April 17, 2024
Since I returned to campus two years ago, we have charted an ambitious course for IU Bloomington. From my perspective, we are clearly on a rising path, and our faculty, staff, students, and alumni continue to shine in countless ways.
At the same time, I hear and take seriously the concerns expressed by our community during my time here, including at this week’s all-faculty meeting. In that setting, faculty members expressed their concerns about a rapidly changing institution, shifts in traditional priorities on campus, impacts of a dynamic political landscape in our state and beyond, and feelings of a loss of faculty autonomy and governance, among others.
There is no question it is a time of significant transformation for IUB, as for all of higher education, and the impacts of the changes are felt differently across schools and units. What is commonplace in one school or discipline is novel practice in another. And our decentralized model has created a culture of often unwitting competition. Those in the humanities sometimes see investments in STEM as a threat or loss for them, rather than as an addition for the institution. New opportunities to combine operations across schools, units, or IU campuses are viewed with suspicion. Decisions on today’s complex issues, whether related to geopolitical conflicts or campus procedures, are interrogated widely but viewed differently.
Our campus community at IUB is built on our shared lived experiences. The stories we tell about one another and ourselves influence the confidence we have — within and beyond the institution — in our ability to grow and thrive.
One of the things I have observed here is our great difficulty in creating a shared narrative or understanding. With the size and complexity of IU Bloomington, we will inevitably disagree on which accounts accurately reflect where we are and where we want to go, especially as we consider perspectives beyond campus. As President Whitten shared in her message last evening, like faculty, our lawmakers, industry leaders, families of prospective students, state residents, and others also have important perspectives on our efforts in higher education, and we cannot take their continued support for granted.
And so, to deepen confidence and shared understanding, to ensure a united path to a brighter future, we must do a better job of listening to each other and coming together collaboratively. Our individual stories hold invaluable context and insight that can guide us forward together. It is crucial that each of us remembers and acts on the generative potential of building common ground with colleagues and all stakeholders of IU, across all our differences.
Across IUB’s diverse schools and disciplines we must find common purpose. Our leaders and our legislators need to connect about how we can best support the state, and how the state can best support us. We must all understand our need to move quickly must balance with engaging broadly (I take that to heart). At the same time, our deliberative processes and committees must support collaborative dialogue and an eagerness to improve.
The university’s trustees have entrusted us with the vital mission of groundbreaking and transformational research, teaching, and service to Indiana and the world, and we must move collaboratively to ensure IUB will continue to lead both now and for the future. As I shared in the State of the Campus address earlier this spring, for all its messiness, there are glorious opportunities ahead for Indiana University Bloomington if we are bold enough and resolved enough to pursue them.
We have the power to change tomorrow but only together. I challenge us all to embrace the call, and I look forward to joining you in creating a brighter future.
