New strategic plan raises alarm at BFC meeting

The Bloomington Faculty Council had a scare Tuesday as it wondered if the IU Campus Strategic Plan had been for nothing.

IU President Michael McRobbie is making his own strategic plan for the University that will  span IU’s eight campuses.  The Provost’s Strategic Plan covers only IU-Bloomington.

“I’m no longer clear about what the Bloomington Strategic Plan means,” Donald Gjerdingen, parliamentarian for the BFC, said during the meeting. “I just don’t know. It’s just a question mark.”

Michael Rushton, director of strategic planning for the office of the executive vice president for University academic affairs, told faculty they will be taking campus strategic plans from all University campuses, and using them as the basis for the University strategic plan.

“The intent of the Indiana University Strategic Plan is to draw from these strategic plans,” Rushton said. “The intent is not to have a new plan that is in conflict with what the different campus plans have done.”

The new plan will draw from IU’s already existing principles of excellence, Rushton said.

“We think that vision is already articulated,” he said. “What we would like is in addition to that a few strategic objectives that fall under those categories of those principles of excellence in education, in research, in faculty, in health and in engagement.”

Rushton said that the campuses shouldn’t have to change their campus-orientend strategic plan after the president’s plan is made.

A faculty committee won’t be formed for it, but a draft of the document will be taken to the BFC and University Faculty Council in the fall, Rushton said.

Provost and Executive Vice President Lauren Robel said she has the highest confidence in Rushton and in McRobbie for his track record of being clear about his initiatives and goals for the University are.

That way, Robel said, hopefully the University Strategic Plan won’t conflict with the IU-Bloomington Strategic Plan.

“So I’m hoping it won’t feel quite the disjuncture that it theoretically could be,” Robel said.

Earlier in the meeting, the Principles and Policies on Tenure and Promotion was also discussed.

Claude Clegg, the chair of the faculty affairs committee, headed the committee to change to document.

A faculty member disputed the addition of the phrase “as a general rule” to the joint appointments and intercampus commitments section, to allow exceptions to the rule that only Bloomington-appointed faculty are allowed to vote on promotion and tenure cases.

Despite this, the document was passed with one veto.