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(08/30/02 4:47am)
Last September, IU Bloomington was named by Time magazine as its College of the Year among research universities, based on the comprehensive programs we have developed to help students make the academic and social transition to college life.\nWe were proud of the honor. The media, for the most part, yawned.\nMove forward a bit less than a year. Last Monday morning, the phones began to ring at our media relations offices, and kept ringing. IU has been "honored" again. The Princeton Review -- no, it is not affiliated with Princeton University -- had declared that IUB is the nation's No. 1 party school.\nWe weren't proud. Perplexed was more like it. We hadn't even shown up on this "party school" list in recent years, and we have, of late, been engaged in a stepped-up enforcement and education campaign on our campus to deal with alcohol issues.\nBut soon bewilderment gave way to anger. It became clear that, based on dubious survey data, our university had been dragged into a publicity stunt that only serves to trivialize and exploit a very real nationwide problem.\n"The Princeton Review should be ashamed to publish something for students and parents that fuels the false notion that alcohol is central to the college experience." That's what an American Medical Association official had to say in calling on the publication to drop the "party school" ranking. But having discovered a gimmick that guarantees their publication a burst of news coverage during the dog days of August, the editors are unlikely to change course.\nEspecially so when the media seem eager to participate in this pseudo-news event.\nThe entire episode is yet another illustration of the mixed messages that our society sends about alcohol abuse. Hail a university for its academic accomplishments, and it is ho-hum news. Hawk a questionable survey about college kids drinking, and there's a place for you on the talk shows and the front pages. Unfortunately, such superficial coverage does more to sensationalize the problem than to solve it.\nThe Harvard School of Public Health estimates that 44 percent of college students binge drink nationwide. Binge drinking is defined as four or more drinks in a row by a woman or five in a row by a man. While there have been some small signs of progress on this issue -- for example, the number of students who say they do not drink at all has gone up a bit -- the rates of abuse remain unacceptably and stubbornly high. Universities have tried a range of strategies, but no one has discovered a sure-fire solution.\nAt IU, for example, we stress increased educational efforts and offer plenty of alcohol-free activities. We also have stepped up enforcement of our alcohol regulations. Five fraternities have been expelled from our campus for alcohol-related violations since 2000. Alcohol-related referrals to our campus disciplinary system have risen steadily over the past three years. As was first permitted by the 1998 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, we now routinely notify parents if their students are involved in serious violations of our alcohol rules.\nI think our policies are having an impact. Many of the IU students who were quoted in media accounts about The Princeton Review "honor" seemed as perplexed by it as we were. \nBut we can never be satisfied with our progress. We know that the next alcohol-related tragedy is only one act of youthful misjudgment away. University officials live with that grim reality every day. We take this seriously. The Princeton Review should as well.ast September, IU Bloomington was named by Time magazine as its College of the Year among research universities, based on the comprehensive programs we have developed to help students make the academic and social transition to college life.\nWe were proud of the honor. The media, for the most part, yawned.\nMove forward a bit less than a year. Last Monday morning, the phones began to ring at our media relations offices, and kept ringing. IU has been "honored" again. The Princeton Review -- no, it is not affiliated with Princeton University -- had declared that IUB is the nation's No. 1 party school.\nWe weren't proud. Perplexed was more like it. We hadn't even shown up on this "party school" list in recent years, and we have, of late, been engaged in a stepped-up enforcement and education campaign on our campus to deal with alcohol issues.\nBut soon bewilderment gave way to anger. It became clear that, based on dubious survey data, our university had been dragged into a publicity stunt that only serves to trivialize and exploit a very real nationwide problem.\n"The Princeton Review should be ashamed to publish something for students and parents that fuels the false notion that alcohol is central to the college experience." That's what an American Medical Association official had to say in calling on the publication to drop the "party school" ranking. But having discovered a gimmick that guarantees their publication a burst of news coverage during the dog days of August, the editors are unlikely to change course.\nEspecially so when the media seem eager to participate in this pseudo-news event.\nThe entire episode is yet another illustration of the mixed messages that our society sends about alcohol abuse. Hail a university for its academic accomplishments, and it is ho-hum news. Hawk a questionable survey about college kids drinking, and there's a place for you on the talk shows and the front pages. Unfortunately, such superficial coverage does more to sensationalize the problem than to solve it.\nThe Harvard School of Public Health estimates that 44 percent of college students binge drink nationwide. Binge drinking is defined as four or more drinks in a row by a woman or five in a row by a man. While there have been some small signs of progress on this issue -- for example, the number of students who say they do not drink at all has gone up a bit -- the rates of abuse remain unacceptably and stubbornly high. Universities have tried a range of strategies, but no one has discovered a sure-fire solution.\nAt IU, for example, we stress increased educational efforts and offer plenty of alcohol-free activities. We also have stepped up enforcement of our alcohol regulations. Five fraternities have been expelled from our campus for alcohol-related violations since 2000. Alcohol-related referrals to our campus disciplinary system have risen steadily over the past three years. As was first permitted by the 1998 reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, we now routinely notify parents if their students are involved in serious violations of our alcohol rules.\nI think our policies are having an impact. Many of the IU students who were quoted in media accounts about The Princeton Review "honor" seemed as perplexed by it as we were. \nBut we can never be satisfied with our progress. We know that the next alcohol-related tragedy is only one act of youthful misjudgment away. University officials live with that grim reality every day. We take this seriously. The Princeton Review should as well.
(07/25/02 8:23pm)
I have been interested to read the debate on the IDS editorial pages about the positive and negative aspects of the Little 500.\nBut I think one of the most constructive parts of the event -- in fact, a key reason for its founding -- is too easily overlooked. The Little 500 raises money for scholarships for working students. Earlier this month, 34 IU students each received a $1,000 scholarship at the annual Little 500 scholarship reception.\nThat focus on scholarships dates from the first days of the Little 500. Howard "Howdy" Wilcox worked his own way through IU in the late 1930s and early 1940s. When he became executive director of the IU Foundation in 1949, he was instrumental in establishing and promoting the Little 500 as both an athletic and a fundraising event. During the years, the Little 500 has raised more than $800,000 for scholarships.\nIt is easy to see how this aspect of the event can be overlooked. The excitement and camaraderie of the Little 500 itself is what packs the stands at Bill Armstrong Stadium every April. It is a great spectacle. While the year's participants and spectators create their own memories, former riders and spectators come back to campus to catch up with old friends and classmates and relive their own experiences.\nThere will be parties surrounding the event, but I think we have all made great progress in recent years in respecting the law and maintaining reasonable limits. Of course, we also all know of tragic incidents that have happened when alcohol use gets out of hand.\nBut at Little 500 time, I have been pleased with the renewed focus on the competition itself, in both the women's and the men's races. The competition is terrific -- a spirited show of good sportsmanship. And without many hours of practice and conditioning, none of those cyclists would have a chance for victory.\nThat's why I have always thought that Little 500 is an outstanding campus event. Hard work, dedication and teamwork lie at the heart of so much that we all hope to accomplish at IU. Those attributes are exemplified not only by the riders in the Little 500 races, but by the recipients of the scholarships that these events support. They, too, have worked hard and long to overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.\nNo matter what teams make it across the finish line first, those scholarship winners, and the University community as a whole, are the real winners of a safe and successful Little 500 weekend.
(05/03/02 2:27am)
Social reformer Susan B. Anthony said: \"Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones, not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings, not the great goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory."\nThat may sound like an odd message to cite at a time when so many people on our campuses are looking forward to reaching a great milestone in their lives. They will receive their degrees from IU. It is a tremendous achievement.\nBut in the hectic time leading up to Commencement, I would urge you to take a quiet moment and let some of those other milestones come to the door of memory. The lasting friendships made, the academic challenges accepted and conquered, the great times that you shared -- all are indispensable parts of the journey from being a slightly overwhelmed freshman to a confident college graduate.\nThe poet e.e. cummings wrote; \"It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.\" People come to a college campus to do exactly that. Here, they find faculty and staff who have helped generations of students on that same quest. Here, they are surrounded by bright ambitious peers who are also trying to become who they really are -- as soon as they figure out who that person might be, of course.\nThose journeys seldom go in a straight line. In fact, the most fulfilling ones are often the most circuitous. A major research university such as IU offers plenty of opportunity for academic exploration. It also creates a community where you can get to know a diverse group of people from everywhere. In a small college town in southern Indiana, the larger world is never far away.\nThat certainly was the case on Sept. 11, when our university reeled along with the nation in the wake of the terrorist attacks. We all will remember exactly where we were when we heard the news. I will remember something else as well, how those tragic events united us. There was confusion, sadness and anger, but there was also a sense of shared purpose.\nCampus forums brought together people from the campus and the surrounding community to share their opinions and to discuss the religious and geopolitical issues with experts. Together, we reasserted the power of knowledge and understanding in the face of violence and hatred. \nAlthough that momentous tragedy will always mark this academic year, there were also plenty of times of pride, happiness and celebration. Each individual student can supply his or her personal examples of important milestones. In looking at the university as a whole, I will cite but two. \nThe designation by Time magazine of IUB as its College of the Year was a ringing affirmation of the efforts of our faculty, staff and students to build a strong and welcoming learning community. I was proud of what the honor said about our campus.\nAnd, of course, there was the march by the men\'s basketball Hoosiers to the NCAA championship game. That, too, was a great symbol of what makes our university special. The determination, effort and teamwork displayed by the Hoosiers and the joyous enthusiasm shown by our fans made a dynamic and winning combination.\nAs this memorable academic year ends, I offer three wishes for those IU graduates who will soon leave our campus clutching hard-earned diplomas. I hope that happy recollections of your time at IU often come knocking at your door of memory. I hope that you will continue to show the courage to become who you really are. (It\'s a lifelong job.) And I hope you stay in touch.
(04/05/02 4:11am)
One of the most enjoyable aspects of sports is watching a team that grows into something truly special. The 2001-2002 Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball squad has been such a team. \nEven optimistic Hoosier fans would have had trouble predicting it. But this team's impressive march through the NCAA tournament solidified its place in the grand history of IU basketball. \nWinning is the goal. And the Hoosiers achieved that, winning 25 games and earning a spot in the NCAA championship contest. The loss there to a determined Maryland squad did little to remove the luster from the Hoosiers' accomplishments. \nBut while IU's string of victories was exciting, what will remain in my mind when I think about this team is its dedication, its toughness, its teamwork and, yes, the joy that the Hoosiers displayed in playing the game of basketball. Anyone who wonders why basketball is such a popular sport in Indiana could learn a lot just by watching this team play -- and by watching the legions of fans cheer them on.\nWhen you start handing out the credit for the Hoosiers' accomplishments, you must begin with the players themselves. Our basketball student-athletes are expected to maintain their academic standing while devoting hours of time practicing an exacting a pressure-packed sport. They do so admirably. I especially want to thank seniors Dane Fife and Jarrad Odle for their dedication and commitment to IU basketball.\nThe team's on-court successes placed the players in a media spotlight that, at the Final Four, is truly extraordinary. The Hoosiers represented themselves and their university with poise, dignity and good humor.\nThe players respect for each other and for their coaching staff was unmistakable. Coach Mike Davis and his assistants clearly set the proper tone of hard work and cooperation early on. To succeed in the NCAA tournament, coaches must be able to make the right game-to-game adjustments for each new opponent. But it also seemed that the Hoosiers were drawing on something deeper -- outstanding conditioning and a thorough understanding of the game that was built from the first day of practice.\nCoach Davis' ability to create such a team says great things about his skills and about the future of IU basketball. \nThe team's success says the right things about this university, as well. We are dedicated to excellence. We work together. We help one another. We set lofty goals and strive mightily to achieve them.\nI have long believed that intercollegiate athletics, when conducted in the proper way, can increase pride in an institution. It can strengthen a university's connections with alumni, students, faculty and the broader community. It can generate great pride. This season proved those points.\nIt was fantastic to see and hear the Hoosier fans who jammed Rupp Arena and the Georgia Dome. Meanwhile, of course, fans back home were filling every available venue, including Assembly Hall. As the Hoosiers won a share of the Big Ten championship and marched through the tournament, I received countless letters and e-mails from fans reveling in IU's success.\nWhile the team was earning its victories, all of the Hoosier fans in the stands and in front of their television sets and radios felt like we were a part of those great accomplishments. It has been a great thing to share, and we sincerely thank Coach Davis and his team for creating these lasting memories for all of us.
(03/01/02 4:32am)
Arts Week -- featuring performances, lectures, displays and workshops held in various venues around Bloomington and on our campus -- clearly showed the strength of the arts in our campus community.\nWhat's just as impressive, however, is the range of activities that are available to us not just during a designated week, but all year round. Our role as a home for the arts is very much in keeping with our tradition as an arts and sciences institution. We celebrate that tradition proudly.\nMany generations of IU leaders have recognized that a solid grounding in the arts and sciences is a prerequisite to so many decisions that our students will make as citizens. That knowledge, that education, helps build a strong and civil society.\nThat tradition carries with it responsibilities. Federal support for research in the arts and humanities has eroded in recent years. In my 2000 State of the University address, I outlined a four-year Arts and Humanities Initiative that would designate about $1 million each year to support specific research projects undertaken by IU faculty members in these areas. \nThat's triple the annual grants that IU faculty members receive from the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities combined.\nIn the first year of the program, 85 faculty members applied for the grants. This year, we had 114. The selection committee had a difficult task in narrowing those applications to 27 recipients -- 18 on the Bloomington campus.\nThe grants will help fund projects in a wide range of disciplines -- labor studies, English, Germanic studies, history, music, fine arts, philosophy and others. \nClearly, the subjects are varied. But all examine different facets of our society's cultural and historical heritage and its relevance to us today. They illuminate aspects of the human experience from which we can learn. As such, they are central to our university's effort to both advance scholarship and creative work as well as to have a positive impact on our students and on the larger society.\nMeanwhile, a task force headed by history professor James Madison has been meeting and plans to send me a report on the state of the arts and humanities at our university by the end of the academic year.\nThat group will focus, in part, on our University's real and lasting assets in these areas. Clearly, our School of Music is a great treasure. Our new Theatre and Drama Center will strengthen our reputation as an outstanding site for theatrical performance and education. Many of our other programs are superb.\nBut I also expect the task force to examine the very real challenges that any university faces in enhancing these programs. Funding issues are an important concern. So is the need to bring the arts and humanities alive to the public and to a new generation of students. Their individual academic decisions play a critical role in keeping any area of study vibrant.\nIn his autobiography "Being Lucky," Chancellor Herman B Wells said the University must continue to support and teach about the outstanding work by previous generations of scholars in philosophy, literature, art, music and science while encouraging "the development of new ideas, new ways of thinking, and new ways of expressing artistic and aesthetic values."\nIt is a challenge that remains as compelling today as it was when Chancellor Wells issued it.
(09/25/01 3:35am)
When international events happen, they tend to hit home at IU.\nThe large number of foreign students on our campus; the faculty and staff members who have come to IU from around the world; the IU students who are studying and have studied abroad -- all those help make the world seem like a smaller place from here. During the days and weeks ahead, as the world continues to react to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, that international focus will pose opportunities and challenges for our University community.\nI have been greatly heartened by the overwhelming displays of support on our campuses -- support for our nation and our democratic ideals in a time of crisis, support for the public safety officers striving to save lives on the sites of the terrorist attacks and support for one another.\nIU is, of course, an institution of teaching and learning. We need to marshal our abundant intellectual resources to help inform our policy-makers and our fellow citizens about the choices that lie ahead.\nIn the School of Environmental and Public Affairs, Department of Political Science, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures department, Middle Eastern Studies Program and many other parts of the University, our faculty members can offer impressive expertise regarding the issues that our nation will be facing. This is an important aspect of our public mission.\nOf course, I don't expect that all the experts will speak with one voice any more than I believe that all members of our University community will share one point of view. While there is no question that justice requires that we take action against those who perpetrated these evil acts of terror, I would expect passions will run high on all sides of the issues if the United States becomes militarily engaged.\nThen, the University must fulfill its role as a free and open marketplace of ideas, where many different views are heard and debated in an atmosphere of mutual respect. We must rise above knee-jerk reactions and stereotypes.\nIt is crucial, in these troubling times, to extend our understanding and our hand of friendship to foreign students. While we will strongly protect academic freedom and First Amendment rights on our campuses, harassment and ethnic hatred directed toward any of our students will not be tolerated. I have been greatly impressed with the positive and caring attitude shown by the vast majority of our students in this regard.\nThose who do scapegoat members of any ethnic or religious group will, in their own small and petty way, only be furthering the cause of those who attack this country in hopes of undermining what makes our society strong.\nI have been particularly proud of our Muslim students, who have stepped forward, voicing their own shock and horror at the terrorist attacks and making a sincere call for conciliation and understanding.\nSending students abroad and bringing outstanding international students to Indiana has had a lasting, positive impact on our culture here. It is easy to demonize a faceless group. The situation changes when a member of that group is someone you see in the cafeteria every day or who sits next to you in class. That person is an individual, a fellow student, another member of the IU family.\nKnowledge about and understanding of our world is a resource for our nation in what may be difficult times ahead. Even if debates become heated, even as some express unpopular viewpoints, we will encourage an open exchange of ideas where differing opinions are heard and valued.\nThat is our job as a university; that is the responsibility of our faculty, staff and students. And we will fulfill it to the best of our ability.
(08/22/01 4:00am)
In the hit movie Cast Away, a plane crash leaves the character played by Tom Hanks marooned on an island. Suddenly, he has to figure out how to do everything for himself for the first time.\nThese days, Bloomington looks nothing like a deserted island. Throngs of students and their parents are coming to campus, bringing their belongings and the end-of-summer traffic jams along with them.\nBut even in the midst of all the commotion, some new IU students might feel a bit like that fellow who woke up on a strange island. You are in an unfamiliar place; your old support system is gone (or, at least, only accessible by car or telephone); you have to start learning how to do more things for yourself.\nThe first piece of academic advice I would give you is to explore. You have washed up on the campus of a world-class university. You know the story -- 116 programs ranked in the top 20 in their disciplines; professors who rank with the best in the nation and the world; an illustrious legacy in the arts, sciences and humanities, strengthened by leading professional schools; a hard-earned reputation for information technology leadership. \nSomewhere in the Schedule of Classes, you will find a course in a subject that always interested you, even though it doesn't really fit into your major. Try it out. You might find a whole new academic direction. Attend an opera or symphony presented by our outstanding School of Music. That's a big part of what higher education is all about, intellectual exploration and growth. You will never have a better opportunity to take on new challenges.\nFortunately, unlike Hanks' character in Cast Away, you are not alone. You should have no trouble finding people who can give you more useful advice along the way than Hanks received from his volleyball, Wilson. Students who make friends and get involved are more likely to succeed than those who do not. It is as simple as that.\nWhen I talk about the IU family, I mean it. Members of a family help one another. For you returning students, think back to your first weeks in Bloomington. Remember a fellow student, faculty or staff member who made an extra effort to answer your questions and make you feel welcome? And if you can't, don't you wish someone had?\nI hope that good advice extends beyond a discussion of the best places to eat and the best classes to take. College students away from home for the first time also must adjust to a new level of personal freedom. Wrong choices about drinking and driving, drug use or other personal behaviors can change your life forever. We need to make responsible decisions, and go the extra mile to look out for each other.\nYours is a great opportunity and a great adventure. Enjoy it; take advantage of it. And don't forget the sunscreen.
(04/27/01 3:39am)
Four years in college is a long time. And it goes by in a flash. \nFour academic years ago, many of the same students who now are preparing for commencement were sitting in Freshman Induction. Others were freshmen five or six years ago. But no matter when you might have attended, I am quite certain that I said you should try to get the most out of our University during your stay here.\nTake an academic side trip or two to art history or philosophy or religious studies or zoology. Go to the opera, the museums, music recitals, a student government meeting or a rugby match. Meet people you might not ordinarily meet by doing things you might not ordinarily do. That's all an important part of a well-rounded education.\nMy message wasn't a new one then. It won't be new next fall, either. Ralph Waldo Emerson once expressed a similar sentiment this way: "Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."\nI hope the 6,064 Bloomington students who will receive IU degrees at commencement followed that advice. If you did, it will mean you earned a well-rounded education, and probably had a great time doing it. But, beyond that, it will mean you have prepared yourselves well for what comes next, i.e. the rest of your lives.\nIt's still possible to complete a college education at most universities by simply going where the path may lead, although I wouldn't recommend it. You can just take the courses you are required to take, attend events you are assigned to attend, get the grades you need to graduate, keep your head down and keep moving along. You will have missed a lot, but you will have a degree.\nBut the next problem will be: What path will I follow for the rest of my life? No list of required courses and prerequisites spells that out. And, as the pace of change increases, paths have a way of disappearing, or turning into dead ends.\nOnly a year or so ago, the dot-com economy seemed to be a sure path to riches. Today, if you believe some of the media reports, it seems to be the quickest route to the unemployment line. Next year, I expect the outlook will be dramatically different again.\nSome career experts say the average person will work in five different professions in his or her working life. Don't be surprised if that estimate keeps getting revised upward, and don't be surprised if some of the ways you will be making a living tomorrow are just being imagined today.\nI expect that our graduates will have the confidence, ability, energy and knowledge to go where there is no path and to leave a trail for others to follow. I hope that your IU experience has convinced you of the joys of, and the need for, lifelong learning.\nAnd to all of our graduates, I express this wish: No matter where your individual paths might lead over the years, I hope they wind back through Bloomington often. We'll leave a light on for you. Keep in touch.
(02/14/01 3:45am)
For our University, every biennial state budget is important. But that's especially true this year. Without strong budgetary support, Indiana's public colleges and universities will be unable to build on the progress we have made.\nAs the IDS stated in its Jan. 16 editorial ("Higher education should be a priority"), the State Budget Agency's proposal now calls for flat funding for four-year institutions statewide. IU and Purdue annually rank at the bottom of public Big Ten schools in per-student state funding. This proposal would widen the gap with our peer institutions, and would make even maintaining the status quo on our campuses extremely difficult.\nBut this is not a time for despair. It is a time for unity and action. IU students, staff, faculty members, alumni and supporters should come together to urge state leaders to allow us to sustain and improve our programs. We must carry the message about the quality of Indiana higher education and the importance of it to our future. \nFeb. 14, Hoosiers for Higher Education, our statewide interest group, will rally in Indianapolis and meet with our elected leaders. I hope those students whose class schedules permit will join in that effort. It is vital that IU's budget allocation at the very least allows us to sustain our current programs. \nTo cite one example of the pitfalls of a "flat-line" budget, look at the costs of health care. These costs are expected to rise at least 15 percent a year during the next two years because of economic forces over which IU has no control. The State Budget Agency's proposal allocates no funding for such increases. But even if the budget did allow us to maintain the status quo, that is not enough. \nWe have proposed new initiatives to preserve student access and raise retention and graduation rates. We would provide improved support, counseling and mentoring services, particularly for first-generation and at-risk students. We must increase resources for faculty -- for competitive salaries and to support teaching and research. \nWe also are seeking funds for the School of Informatics, which will broadly educate students in the technical and social aspects of information technology. Our top capital spending request is for a new Multidisciplinary Science Building. That state-of-the-art building will attract and educate outstanding scientists and will provide excellent teaching space. These and other quality improvements are not frills. They are programs and projects central to our mission of providing access to 21st century higher education to qualified Hoosier students.\nI recognize that the governor and the Legislature face difficult choices at a time when the economy is slowing. But they must take a long-range view. Higher education will diversify and strengthen Indiana's economy. Our state can't risk losing outstanding faculty members and students who might go elsewhere because of budget shortfalls.\nAs the budget process moves forward, we need to send a strong and unified message: For the future of Indiana, we cannot afford not to invest in higher education.
(10/02/00 3:43am)
Several senior faculty members have recently expressed concerns about IU's low ranking among Big Ten universities by U.S. News & World Report. They claim IU's status as a research university has been falling over the past decade and that there is a "culture of mediocrity" on campus. This claim is insulting to the many high-performing, superb faculty members on the Bloomington campus and results from a superficial understanding of the U.S. News rankings. There is, and has been, a culture of achievement at IU.\nAny set of rankings must be taken with a grain of salt. But for the sake of argument, let's look closely at the criteria used to create these rankings.\nThe single most important measure of academic quality used by U.S. News is comparative academic reputation, based on peer review by faculty and administrators nationwide. In higher education, peer review is the standard means for evaluating academic quality in promotion and tenure, salary increments, hiring and program evaluation.\nBy this measure, U.S. News has IU tied for fourth among Big Ten public universities and tied for 11th among public universities nationally. Hardly mediocre!\nThe "underrating" of IU is not a new phenomenon. Nor do the U.S. News ratings, when viewed over time, support the idea that IU's stature is eroding. In the 1990s, IU was rated highly in academic reputation. IU's overall ranking has increased slightly in the last seven years, but we have been placed in the "second tier" of universities.\nTo understand why, we have to look carefully at other criteria.\nThe magazine keeps its exact formula secret, but it does make known several measures it uses. One is expenditures per student, a combination of tuition and state support. Both IU and Purdue are near the bottom of the Big Ten in state support. To increase expenditures per student, IU would have to increase tuition dramatically. We could raise our ranking by doubling our tuition. But our students are too important to do that.\nAnother important criteria to U.S. News is grants and contracts. While IU as a whole, including the School of Medicine, does well in this category, grant revenues for the Bloomington campus are modest. IU does not have a medical, engineering or agricultural school and focuses on liberal arts, which do not attract large grants. Since Herman B Wells helped build this campus, it focuses on the arts and sciences. We are proud of our excellence in these areas, but this focus hurts the campus in the eyes of some rating agencies.\nA recent study by University of Florida researchers has also been cited as evidence of IU's "decline." But that study falls into several of the same traps. Bloomington's overall research effort is considered quite low. If figures from the School of Medicine are added to IU's total, our rankings improve.\nTo boost our status in such surveys, we could close the School of Music, greatly reduce humanities and social sciences programs, move the medical school and open an engineering school. But that's ridiculous! \nThe central point is that we will continue to make every effort to improve what we do, but we will not change our mission just to become more attractive to certain rating agencies.\nIU's critics also point to a supposed exodus of outstanding faculty members. Inevitably, a university with the academic reputation of IU will be the target of "raids" by other universities. Sometimes other public and private institutions make offers that IU, given its budget constraints, cannot match. The good news is we have been able to retain many faculty members who have been strongly recruited by other universities. Just as important, we have had excellent success attracting promising young scholars to IU to continue our proud academic tradition.\nWe have been helped greatly in this regard by our fund-raising successes. Endowed chairs and professorships are a powerful tool in attracting and retaining top-quality faculty. In the past five years, our number of such positions has gone from near the bottom of the Big Ten to among the leaders.\nThe academic quality of IU, as measured by peer review, is outstanding. But because of other criteria, the ranking of the campus does not reflect its academic quality. We should continue to try to improve academic quality, and steps are being taken to accomplish that. But we should resist changing our mission just to meet arbitrary ratings criteria. And we should reject the negative perspective that substitutes those criteria for recognition of our true academic merit.
(09/18/00 5:19am)
My recent decision to dismiss Coach Bob Knight has again focused national media attention on our campus.\nI spelled out my reasons for making that decision at the press conference announcing Coach Knight's dismissal. He has expressed his own opinions on the issue, and has made what I considered to be a gracious farewell to the students. It is now time to move forward, in an atmosphere of civility and mutual respect.\nCoach Knight is a basketball legend, a man who has made many lasting contributions to IU. He is also a polarizing figure; few people are neutral on the subject of Bob Knight. So, I knew that, no matter how this saga ended, I and other members of the administration would be vilified by some and cheered by others.\nI believe the great majority of students and community members have handled those controversies well. We should be good at civil disagreement and debate; it's an integral part of any successful learning community.\nBut vandalism and intimidation have no place in that process. Threats of violence directed toward people with whom you disagree are the antithesis of free speech; such threats are designed to stifle speech. No matter how students feel about the Knight situation, they should not feel afraid to express their views.\nIU administrators have been the targets of death threats. Those must cease. Even more reprehensible are those threats aimed at the IU freshman who was involved in the confrontation with Coach Knight shortly before he was dismissed. I'm shocked and saddened that there are a few -- I hope a very few -- in the University community who believe such tactics are justified. They are wrong.\nNow it is time for IU to move past this controversy and work to fulfill its important missions.\nThis controversy has been a blunt reminder that athletic success can be a two-edged sword. Hoosiers take justifiable pride in our great basketball legacy. But we err if we allow wins and losses in any athletic program to overshadow the true mission of a university -- teaching, learning and research. Coach Knight himself often stressed the relative unimportance of his job when compared with the greater goals of the institution.\nWith world-class schools and departments in a broad array of disciplines, a great arts and sciences tradition, and a growing reputation for leadership in information technology, we have an academic institution in which we can take tremendous pride.\nSuccessful students and faculty members in the classroom, productive researchers in the laboratories and libraries mean the most, in the long run, to the success of IU. That's what we are all on campus to achieve; those are victories in which each student and faculty and staff member can play a vital part.\nLet's get on with that work.
(09/08/00 5:45am)
Traditionally, IU's president discusses the broad range of opportunities and challenges facing IU in his State of the University address.\nIn this year's speech, which I will give at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Frangipani Room at the Indiana Memorial Union, I plan to break with that tradition. I will instead focus on one issue of utmost importance to this campus, this University and this nation: the future of the arts and humanities.\nThe past decade has brought a decrease in student majors in the arts and humanities, serious constraints in federal funding and a general loss of public status for the liberal arts. I believe the arts and humanities face an impending crisis, which not only threatens the heart of the academic enterprise, but also endangers our souls, both as individuals and as citizens of our various communities.\nSeveral decades ago, 75 percent of incoming freshmen indicated their primary reason for attending college was to develop a philosophy of life, which is a surrogate for interest in the liberal arts. Now, 75 percent say their primary motivation is to gain career skills.\nResearch funding reflects the same trend. While the National Institutes for Health allocates $20 billion annually, the combined annual support for research from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts is slightly more than $200 million.\nThese changes have consequences. We run the risk of becoming a people who are readily entertained by a rapidly growing media and who can check stock quotations anytime, anywhere. All the while, we lose touch with our history, with sophisticated aesthetic pleasures and with the wisdom necessary for moral action.\nThe arts and humanities are essential for an educated citizenry. We are justly proud of our professional programs at IU, but they must be supported by liberal arts instruction. These subjects develop ways of thinking about the experience of being human that no investment in technology can produce.\nOf course, the liberal arts also provide excellent preparation for a career in the quickly changing workplace, where lifelong learning and critical thinking are essential.\nIn my speech, I will discuss some strategies ' both short- and long-term, both within our University and elsewhere ' that we can use to advance the arts and humanities. It is an important subject, one that I will return to often in the coming months.\nWhat's on your mind? You can e-mail President Brand at pres@indiana.edu.
(08/30/00 4:18am)
When you spend some time away from a familiar place, you appreciate it a bit more when you return.\nI hope that's the case for students as you return to our campus for the fall semester.\nEven amid the commotion of a new academic year, I urge you to take a few quiet moments to soak in the surroundings: the gorgeous gardens, flourishing trees and well-clipped lawns.\nHerman B Wells would have wanted it that way.\nChancellor Wells, one of the truly great figures in the history of IU, died in March at the age of 97. His contributions to IU are far too numerous to list here. But he was always particularly devoted to efforts to maintain the look of a campus that has been called one of the most beautiful in the world.\nChancellor Wells stressed his conviction that exposure to beauty, nature and the arts was central to a complete education. He often said even the environment on a university campus should provide an aesthetic and educational dimension. \nWherever the eye rested, he said, it should see something beautiful, something uplifting.\nThose who have gone before us have left us the legacy of an aesthetically pleasing campus. Preserving and enhancing it is a task that falls most directly on the employees of the Physical Plant department. Judge the job they do by surveying the landscape. There's no question that this year ' with a generous assist from frequent rains ' they have succeeded abundantly.\nThe Physical Plant campus division staff ' which consists of 40 employees, 28 of whom focus on grounds maintenance ' plants waves of flowers and bulbs to keep flowers in bloom through much of the year. They do an outstanding job. They grow 60,000 annual plants in the University greenhouse for transplantation on campus, and plant 20,000 bulbs every fall ' mind-boggling numbers for the most ardent home gardener.\nStaff members who maintain the campus grounds are representative of the hundreds of IU employees who do their jobs every day to make this campus work well for students and faculty members alike. Their contributions are easy to take for granted in the rush of day-to-day activities, unless you stop to smell the flowers.\nWe're all lucky. We have inherited this beautiful natural canvas on which to spend our days and have a dedicated staff that does a terrific job of maintenance and improvement.\nWe have but two responsibilities: Appreciate it, and do our part to protect it.