In merger, undergraduate voices missing

The Executive Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences made it clear Tuesday he has little faith in the ability of his undergraduate students to think critically.

On my porch, in Ernie Pyle Hall, at Buffa Louie’s and Nick’s, on walks in Dunn Meadow and all over this campus, I’ve talked about the proposed merged media school with my peers.

Every student I come across has full, educated opinions because we have been taught at IU to develop strong arguments supported by facts.

However, Larry Singell, executive dean of the college, said Tuesday in a meeting of the Bloomington Faculty Council, “undergraduates are only here for four years and may not have a long term vision for the college.”

He is mistaken.

Undergraduates care about more than just their four-year degrees. We care about the quality of our education and the education of our peers.

We care about the reputation of this University, its graduates and its faculty.

As a senior looking toward graduate school, I care about the future of this program and those like it at IU.

I care about faculty independence and the direction of future curriculum.

This administration has, at every turn, ignored the voices of others. Provost Lauren Robel’s original announcement strategy was to act first and explain to the faculty later.

Now, that atmosphere of ignorance has manifested itself as neglect of student voice.

It’s not just Ernie Pyle Hall. Student voice has been actively ignored in the closing of the Office of Women’s Affairs, the Leo R. Dowling International Center and other important decisions that will have an effect on students at IU for decades.

There is no discussion — other than students talking to students — involving WIUX, IU Student Television, the Indiana Daily Student, Inside magazine, Arbutus yearbook, American Student Radio and other student media outlets on this campus.

We are proud of our independence.

We are a breed of self-starters who aren’t afraid to question our administration and report the truth.

Ernie Pyle Hall is full of students who have written letters, made requests, sat in on
meetings, hooted, hollered and raised hell whenever appropriate, and yet our voice is still ignored.

When the School of Journalism faculty split into committees to discuss the future of the new program, I was the only student voice.

Out of almost 700 journalism students, only one had a voice on a committee deciding the future of their school.

The inclusion of student voice comes down to this. If this new school is to succeed, it will depend on the recruitment of quality faculty and quality students.

Students know best how to recruit other great students and how to improve the program they see every single day.

The School of Journalism has some of the top student journalists in the world.

Two out of the last three years, a Hoosier has won the “Pulitzers of college journalism,” the Hearst National Writing Championship.

I have high hopes for the future of this school.

I think it is an opportunity for invention and innovation, to explore new frontiers of communication and media production. It can be everything that Robel and Singell and President Michael McRobbie have said it should be.

We have the opportunity to continue to be one of the greatest places for mass communications education in the world, and I’m excited for that opportunity.

But unless there is open discussion between different voices — undergraduate, graduate, faculty and administrative — the new school will stagnate and fail before Franklin Hall even opens for classes.

­— cscudder@indiana.edu
Follow Charlie Scudder on Twitter @cscudder.