Measuring success of schools

The University’s top-ranked programs are getting new facilities.

Or are they?

In the shadow of behemoths like the Kelley School of Business and Jacobs School of Music, it’s easy to forget that many programs at IU perform just as well nationally but receive little attention when it comes time to apportion new facilities.

The School of Public and Environmental Affairs is ranked as one of the best public policy schools in the nation. Our School of Journalism is consistently in the nation’s top 10.

Before its merger, IU’s School of Library and Information Sciences’ graduate program was ranked seventh nationally.

Multiple programs in the College of Arts and Sciences have received top-10 rankings in recent years.

Clearly the answer is money. Schools that produce alumni with extremely high earnings — world-class musicians and high-powered business graduates — draw massive donations that can fund new buildings with world-class amenities and cutting-edge technology.

Schools that produce the world’s best librarians, journalists or sociologists simply don’t have that luxury.

According to a March report available from IU’s Office of the Vice President for Facilities and Capital Planning, IU had about $200 million worth of construction in progress that month and $44 million of that sum was tied up in the new Jacobs building, and another $37 million belonged to the Kelley addition, for a total of more than 40 percent. Another $60 million went to new Residential Programs and Services facilities, including a new residence hall in the Southeast neighborhood and Forest Quad’s new dining hall.

What’s left is $20 million for new baseball and softball fields and $43 million for renovation and refurbishment projects.

Meanwhile, Ballantine Hall is more than 50 years old. The rest of the University’s buildings have to make do with refurbishment and renovation — for which the trustees force fees for “necessary maintenance” onto students — while the University’s poster children get pampered and spoiled by their own affluence.

It may seem like success is being rewarded, but as college students we know money is only one measure of success.

­— drlreed@indiana.edu