Rahul Shrivastav will assume a university-wide role as interim vice president for student success, leaving his position as Indiana University Bloomington provost, the university announced Thursday.
A university press release did not say when the change is taking place. IU spokesperson Mark Bode did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
John Ciorciari will be appointed as interim provost in his place, according to an IU Today article.
Ciorciari currently serves as the dean of the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies and previously held a number of leadership positions at the University of Michigan, according to his LinkedIn.
Whitten said in the statement that both Ciorciari and Shrivastav are trusted and experienced leaders and the interim appointments will allow administration to move forward “with clarity and confidence.”
Shrivastav will assume a role that was previously held by Brenda Stopher, who the article said is stepping away from the position for “personal reasons.”
As interim vice president for student success, Shrivastav will oversee efforts for “student success strategy, enrollment services, strategic initiatives, accreditation policies and institutional analytics.” He will also advise on various operational and organizational initiatives in collaboration with executive leadership across IU.
“This role is about making sure our systems, policies and daily practices come together in ways that genuinely support students and keep them moving confidently toward graduation and beyond,” Shrivastav said in the article.
As interim provost, Ciorciari will serve as chief academic officer for IU Bloomington and lead academic operations, faculty affairs, ensure compliance with university policies and oversee strategic planning.
“I care deeply about IUB’s academic excellence, and I am excited to work with faculty and staff colleagues to build on that tradition and the great positive momentum we have across the Bloomington campus,” Ciorciari said in an email to the Indiana Daily Student.
The Bloomington campus will conduct a formal search before naming a permanent provost.
Shrivastav’s tenure as provost
Shrivastav is an IU alumnus. He became IUB provost in 2022 after working alongside Whitten at the University of Georgia. Shrivastav remained a controversial figure among faculty and students in his tenure.
Ahead of the Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition voting to strike for union recognition in April 2022, Shrivastav wrote in an email to faculty that he’d not recognize the union and that “participation in a work stoppage will result in non-reappointment to future Student Academic Appointments.”
Following the administration’s response to the strike, faculty considered a no-confidence vote in the provost. That vote didn’t come to fruition, failing to make the Bloomington Faculty Council agenda.
But nearly two years later, a vote of no confidence did happen.
Nearly 900 IUB faculty overwhelmingly voted no confidence in Shrivastav, along with Whitten and Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs Carrie Docherty, in April 2024. Over 91% of voting faculty expressed no confidence in the provost.
That vote came following months of concern over free speech on campus, stemming from the high-profile suspension of professor and Palestine Solidarity Committee adviser Abdulkader Sinno, the cancellation of an art exhibition by Palestinian painter Samia Halaby and a purported lack of administrative support against political pressures in the form of Senate Enrolled Act 202 and state-mandated degree cuts.
That same month, IU Police Department and Indiana State Police arrested more than 50 pro-Palestinian protesters on two days during an encampment demonstration in Dunn Meadow. The arrests followed a last-minute free speech policy change, led by a committee convened by Shrivastav the night before.
The nature of the arrests and the policy change led to faculty votes from five of IU Bloomington’s schools calling for Shrivastav and Whitten to be fired or resign. Neither of them did.
But soon after, the IU Board of Trustees approved the reinstatement of a Bloomington chancellor after nearly 20 years at the request of Whitten. This effectively demoted Shrivastav, as the new role would oversee the provost’s office. David Reingold, formerly the executive associate dean for O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, was tapped to take the job.
Shrivastav was also at the center of controversy over IU’s Expressive Activity Policy, passed in response to the Dunn Meadow protest. He authored letters of reprimand to students and faculty who intentionally violated the policy’s restrictions on demonstrations after 11 p.m. Those letters were rescinded after a federal judge ruled the limits were likely unconstitutional.
The IU Bloomington chapter of the American Association of University Professors said Shrivastav’s time as provost was “complicated” in a statement to the IDS. The AAUP is a faculty-led organization that advocates for faculty and graduate students.
“Rahul Shrivastav‘s time as IUB Provost was complicated, marked by a controversial response to student protests in Dunn Meadow, a declarative vote of no confidence by the faculty, and the greatest rollback of shared governance, academic freedom, and free speech in IU’s 200-year history,” the statement read. “We wish him well in his future pursuits and look forward to working with the Chancellor to identify the next Provost.”
UPDATE: This story was updated with a statement from the IU Bloomington chapter of the AAUP.
