Between the lines of IU's Strategic Plan

We get it. You’re busy. You’re tired. And you have plenty to worry about it. The last thing on your mind is the IU Campus Strategic Campus Plan.

The name alone is likely to put the uninitiated to sleep. But the Strategic Plan shouldn’t just be relegated to pillow talk. It’s going to affect you.

The Editorial Board cut through the static, facilitated by the fabulous reporting of the IDS News team, to bring you answers to questions you were too embarrassed to ask of the 21-page document you totally read. Here’s what you need to know.

So, like, what is it?
The IU Campus Strategic Campus Plan is the fancy name of what amounts to a blueprint, which IU will aim to follow leading up to the University’s 200th birthday.
Think of it as IU’s goals and dreams written on paper, except these goals and dreams also involve thousands of people, millions of dollars and the future of a world-class institution we happen to attend.

Keep in mind, however, the Strategic Plan lays outs IU’s priorities in broad terms.
So it’s more of what the administration wants to do rather than how they’re going to do it.

Who or what decides these priorities?
The Provost, chief academic officer of the Bloomington campus, commissioned a super committee made of more than 167 faculty members, administrators and other faceless campus leaders you’ve probably never met.

The super committee — broken into smaller subcommittees focused on undergraduate education, graduate education, diversity, research, faculty recruitment, international initiatives and other special projects coded with the word initiative at the end of their names.

But seriously, why should I care?
This year we’ve hit on the subject of a lack of student input in University decisions, including how our student government has been unable or unwilling to voice legitimate student concerns.

It’s safe to say most IU students don’t feel they have a seat at the table, because, most of the time, we don’t. But the main reason you should care about the Strategic Plan is this is one of the few, rare instances where the administration actually does want to hear want you have to say.

This is why the Provost put the draft of the Strategic Plan up for public comment.
If you want to voice your dissatisfaction with parking, tuition, the bottleneck at the Kelley crosswalk, relations between the University and greek life, etc., this is the time to speak up.

So what does it say?
In all its 21-page glory, it likely doesn’t say enough.
But for the average undergraduate student, the plan does outline the administration’s nonbinding priorities for us, including financial needs, making the Honors College a hub of interdisciplinary academics, increasing the number of underrepresented students at IU and getting the many schools on campus to collaborate for interdisciplinary study.

Other grand foci include shortening the time it takes to complete a PhD, increasing research in emerging fields, mixing up tenure, a shift to making IU as international as possible and other smaller projects.

Now, if it sounds like a snoozefest, we don’t blame you.
The administrative jargon and the rhetorical devices don’t make it the most exciting read, but it has real-life consequences that will shape what our University looks like in coming years.

So take 15 minutes out of your day, check out the proposal at
plan.indiana.edu, and make your voice heard.

­— opinion@idsnews.com
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