Bloomington Faculty Council President Danielle DeSawal introduced IU Provost and Executive Vice President Rahul Shrivastav at the State of the Campus Address at the end of Tuesday’s BFC meeting.
“I am fully aware that not everyone in this room agrees with all the decisions that have been made.” DeSawal said.
DeSawal said that her “lens” has given her the opportunity to see Shrivastav as a “leader that is committed to faculty governance” and that he has been honest about the “uncertainty of the state of higher education.”
At the end of her introduction, one attendee in the audience shouted, “No confidence,” and one shouted “Resign.”
Last year Shrivastav received votes of no confidence from 91.5% of 948 voting faculty members.
“Obsequious it was,” another attendee yelled.
Although the shouts and cowbell noises from several attendees faded as they left President’s Hall, the sounds could still be heard as people gathered outside of Franklin Hall. Throughout nearly the entire duration of the address, horns, cowbells, shouting and chants persisted from outside the building.
“I know there is great uncertainty and many in this room and across the campus feel under attack, from research funding to classroom instruction, how we move forward may need to be very different in some ways,” Shrivastav said. “I know that's not easy, and I know also with that, we've had challenges and differences here over the last three years, which have also not been easy, but as Hoosiers, we have proven our resilience, and we will again today.”
Shrivastav presented IU’s achievements over the past year and discussed plans to overcome challenges related to funding and differences of opinion on campus. During the address, Shrivastav reviewed IU’s academics, research, enrollment and progress toward the 2030 Strategic Plan.
Shrivastav said IU’s pursuit of academic excellence will help create “the Bloomington of tomorrow” and detailed the three new undergraduate and eight new graduate degrees introduced in the past year. This includes undergraduate degrees in music business and public health with a focus on sexual and reproductive health. Some new graduate degrees include a master’s degree in public policy and an online master’s in education and evidence-based practices.
Shrivastav presented the “pivotal milestone” of committing $75 million over the next five years to degree programs in human-centered engineering in the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering.
He also introduced a new First-Year Seminar, which he said the administration hopes will eventually become a part of IU’s GenEd requirements. Along with this, he said IU is piloting a new early start program for incoming freshmen and transfer students.
Implementing a first-year seminar is part of IU’s 2030 strategic plan. It falls under the objective of reconceptualizing and redesigning the “student’s first year” on campus. The seminar, it says, will be “academically based and fosters a sense of belonging, wellness, connection to campus, student engagement and support resources.” A first-year seminar would also fit into the objective: Annual experiential learning.
In October 2024, IU announced it was going to discontinue Intensive First-Year Seminars, an over 30-year-old program. Many faculty were upset with the ending of the program and were dissatisfied with the way it was revealed to them. Several faculty members attested that they were not consulted before the decision to end the program was made.
He mentioned the new IU facility in Washington and said it “gives us a coordinating hub to galvanize these efforts and to discover new ones.”
Shrivastav celebrated new academic appointees and faculty members and recognized the achievements of several faculty members and leaders around different campuses. Specifically, he congratulated the School of Optometry and Dean Suresh Viswanathan who he said obtained a donation of almost 27,000 eyeglass frames for local low-income and uninsured patients. The donated eyeglass frames were from Eyemart Express.
IU Provost Rahul Shrivastav addresses the crowd during the graduate commencement ceremony May 6, 2022, at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington. Shrivastav stepped into his role in February 2022.
During the address, Shrivastav said IU’s number of applications is up over 36% from two years ago.
“Today, I'm thrilled to announce that we are providing an additional $10 million over the next five years to a multi-year classroom renovation effort,” Shrivastav said. “This $10 million commitment will support new construction renovations, leading technology upgrades, process improvement and a new comprehensive classroom master plan.”
He also said IU is setting a goal for 50% of its classrooms to be approved as active learning spaces by 2030. These classrooms are meant to support team-based and problem-based learning where lecturers may need a room that supports discussions or has technology-enhanced tables.
Shrivastav also said he is proud of IU’s efforts to ease the “financial burden on students” by reducing textbook costs, saving IU students over $1.3 million in the past two years.
“I know there remains a lot of concern and attention in the field and in the media, but please note that our research, our scientific exploration and creative activity at IU Bloomington continues to be crucial to the state and to the world's future,” Shrivastav said. “As challenging as it may seem, this is not the time for us to slow down on research. We must remain vigorous in ensuring we can continue to innovate and push boundaries with AAU (Association of American Universities) and Big Ten peers.”
Shrivastav said the university has to actively pursue new sources of funding.
“Change always brings new opportunities,” Shrivastav said.
