Colleagues, thank you for the opportunity to share updates with this group.
First, I would like to speak to the activities and actions regarding the Indiana Daily Student which have consumed a great deal of time and energy since our last meeting. I am confident you have read both the internal statements on this topic and at least some of the media coverage.
Over the past two weeks, I have engaged in conversations, sometimes spirited ones, with many campus colleagues through visits with the Chancellor’s Faculty Advisory Committee, the Alliance of Distinguished and Titled Professors, the College of Arts and Sciences, and O’Neill School Deans Advisory Councils, and various faculty and staff at my weekly lunches. I have also spoken with alumni in a variety of settings and our IU Student Government Congress.
To all of that, I will add this.
It is always easier to play the Monday morning quarterback. The decision to halt the printing of the IDS was in response to a set of circumstances and conversations at a moment in time. It was my best judgment that all involved would benefit from a reset of what has been longstanding tension around printing the IDS.
We cannot continue without putting the IDS onto a path that respects its original charter as a financially independent entity. That goal has become lost amid salacious headlines that captured attention across traditional and social media.
The Media School Dean has named members of a Task Force who will work to create a more detailed plan for the IDS.
It is my hope that allowing the IDS to resume printing will enable us to move forward in a positive way that leads to a plan that will defend our constitutional commitment to freedom of the press, is reasonable and fiscally responsible, and positions Indiana University Bloomington to continue to offer journalism education that is without peer.
Let me also speak for a moment about media coverage around our Jewish Studies Program. As has been noted, the Executive Dean of the College Rick Van Kooten, following the College’s protocols, named an interim program director in August. With a leadership search on the horizon, having an interim director in the position gives us our best opportunity to bring in a top candidate for the role. Hamilton Lugar School Dean John Ciorciari will chair the committee as part of a national search. I anticipate the search committee members will be named soon and active recruiting will begin.
On the subject of our faculty, I am proud to recognize three colleagues who were named distinguished professors this fall. Please join me in congratulating:
Alan Dennis, Distinguished Professor of Information Systems.
Atar Arad, Distinguished Professor of Music (Viola).
And Cynthia Graham, Distinguished Professor of Gender Studies.
For our faculty, this is the time of year when many of us focus on the important work involved in promotion and tenure decisions and assessing the merits of our colleagues. It is among our most important administrative functions at the University that establishes the parameters to be an integral part of our community of scholars. A sincere thank you to all faculty and professional staff doing this often time-consuming but critical work.
Thank you as well to the Deans, Department chairs, program, directors, faculty, and staff involved in efforts to reimagine, combine, or merge degrees that fell below state thresholds for higher education degree requirements. I have full confidence that these groups will create programs that offer a robust and pedagogically sound slate of majors for students at IUB.
At the beginning of the semester, I shared that we would be assembling a committee from IUB and the City of Bloomington to come together to advance ideas that strengthen our community’s well-being and especially our economic competitiveness. The Alliance for Community Competitiveness will meet for the first time this week. The group is co-chaired by Amanda Rutherford from the O’Neill School and Angela Van Rooy from the City of Bloomington. I look forward to sharing their ideas as the group moves its work forward.
Today, the sign-up opportunity to join my weekly faculty and staff lunches in the Tudor Room was published in IUB Today. They offer enjoyable conversations and the chance to hear from various parts of campus on ways to strengthen the campus, while addressing concerns as well. Please consider joining me, if it is of interest.
Other items on my radar include the search for our next Dean of the School of Public Health, continued work on general education updates, and campus policy updates, which you will hear about shortly.
That concludes my report. As always, thank you to this group for your commitment to our campus. Together, we are united in our shared goal of an ever-better Indiana University Bloomington and sustaining its position among the most important public research universities in America and beyond.