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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

International studies coup d’état at COAS?

The international studies program at IU is a mixing bowl for students looking to globalize their education.

Now, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Larry Singell is looking to turn this program into its own school, according to a task force report disseminated by Robert S. Ellis of the Student Advisory Board for the International Studies Program.

A better approach would be to expand it into a department.

However, an “international studies task force” was set up to begin planning for this new school around Aug. 29, 2011, and had a report ready to be sent to the “President and ultimately the trustees and potential donors” by Nov. 18 of the same year.

Nowhere does it mention including Professor Daniel Knudsen — chair of the 2001 curriculum committee charged with creating the major and director of the program since 2003 ­­— in the talks or the task force.

It would seem that you’d want the person with the most intimate knowledge of the program on your team, unless you were attempting a coup d’état.

The report from the task force states that “consultation with the faculty, students, and administrators affected ... is an important first step in beginning to identify the short-term challenges and opportunities, as well as longer-term possibilities for growth and adjustment.”

However, the point of the task force was to begin looking into this with feedback coming from students and faculty in the spring semester.

Because neither the task force nor the report have been made public knowledge, in either the IU News Room or the Indiana Daily Student, I doubt whether feedback will be readily available to most of IU who is in the dark.

Supposedly, “two town hall meetings — one open to all faculty, another to students and staff — ... will be held in the spring semester,” although no dates have been set and the meetings haven’t been publicized.

Are people expected to show up on intuition alone?

The report is lacking in many areas and doesn’t provide any evidence as to why a full-fledged school would be better than a department.

In fact, some of the propositions would never work out (i.e., “The program should be able to work across schools [outside of the College of Arts and Sciences]”).

Anyone who has tried to double major between two schools, or colleges, knows it isn’t allowed unless you make one a B.A. and the other a B.S.

I was told last year that the University doesn’t change policy, but now they’ll warp half of the College of Arts and Sciences?

The administration knew what they wanted before gathering any evidence.

This horrendous idea is a speeding train on a fast track, and students and faculty from all schools, departments and fields need to look into the matter and demand information and participation.

­— nsobecki@indiana.edu

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