Provost urges more diversity efforts

IU Provost Karen Hanson called for sweeping changes in campus diversity during her State of the Campus address Tuesday. Speaking in front of the assorted professors of the Bloomington Faculty Council, Hanson summarized issues facing the Bloomington campus.\nOnly 18 percent of undergraduates identified themselves as nonwhite during the last year, and Hanson is looking to hit the ground running to \nincrease diversity on campus.\n“(Diversity) is an area of special concern for this campus, as it is for all institutions of higher education,” she said, “and we are renewing our \ncommitment to work assiduously to enhance diversity.”\nHanson said she hopes to implement a Campus Diversity Committee by the end of the month and hopes to draft a plan dedicated to this project.\n“Even as this committee is being formed,” she said, “I urge every member of our \ncampus community to review the draft plan and try to help us refine it.”\nDean of Students Dick McKaig said he agreed with and encouraged Hanson’s ambition to make the Bloomington campus more diverse.\n“Institutions that aren’t seen as diverse ... are going to be viewed as narrow, by the best students,” he said. “You’re in backwater if you’re not addressing those issues and moving forward.”\nHanson said there are plans to expand international experiences for students. To do this, she said, the school will “incorporate international perspective into our curriculum.”\nHanson reported that applications to IU increased 18 percent during the last year and allowed the University to be more selective with admissions.\n“As we have made IU education more affordable, we have also increased the quality and, to some extent, the diversity of the undergraduate class,” she said.\nAlthough IU currently holds the 15th largest international enrollment in the U.S., Hanson said she is still encouraging the expansion of international programs. She also reported that the number of non-U.S. citizen, tenured faculty has more than doubled since 2003.\nTo make international experiences possible for more students, Hanson reported that IU President Michael McRobbie created the Office of the Vice President of Research Administration in part to guarantee the aggressive seeking of external funding.\nHanson encouraged the continuance of partnering with other universities and campuses to share resources, “even as we compete with them for top faculty and students,” she said.\nIU Trustee Sue Talbott said she was pleased Hanson shared challenges as well as goals in the report.\nSome challenges Hanson mentioned were finding ways to make tuition more affordable and finding space for additional research and coursework on campus. Hanson concluded her address with issues “on the horizon” such as increased admissions, hoping to instill the idea that the evolution of IU’s campus is crucial.\n“Our core missions, education and research, are enduring, and so are the values of academic freedom and respect that guide our mission,” Hanson said. “Our environment, however, the environment for higher education, is changing, challenging. Thus it happens that even as we reiterate our continuing mission and reassert our enduring values, our theme is change, progressive change.”