EDITORIAL: The turn of the tide on governance of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne

The signal was loud and clear: It’s time to change course.

It’s not the first time that sentiment has been voiced. Discussions about altering IPFW’s governance date back decades. But it should put Purdue President Mitch Daniels and the university’s board of trustees on notice. They’ve been deemed part of the problem, not part of the solution, and if Purdue officials continue cast a blind eye toward northeast Indiana’s needs, then the region’s business community stands ready to go around Purdue and not look back.

The executive summary of the study, written by John Stafford, former director of the Community Research Institute at IPFW, and Bill Sheldrake, president of Indianapolis-based Policy Analysts LLC, begins by stating: “Since 1973, the number of jobs across the U.S. that require at least some college has more than tripled, while those requiring a high school diploma have remained stagnant. By 2025, 60 percent of jobs in America will require some form of postsecondary education.”

Even before launching its Vision 2020 effort to bolster the region’s economy and boost its quality of life four years ago, the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership had recognized that a talented workforce composed of people with the education and skills that employers desire would be the key determinant of the region’s future.

That recognition led to the formation of the partnership’s Big Goal Collaborative, an affinity group of educators, businesses, foundations, and interested individuals and organizations working together to come up with ways to increase the percentage of northeast Indiana residents with a professional credential or two- or four-year degree to 60 percent by 2025.

Put simply, the Big Goal is the partnership’s No. 1 goal. Nothing else is even close.

In recent years, as this push to develop and retain talent has taken hold, area colleges and universities have stepped forward to offer programs specifically designed to meet employers’ needs. But there has been a growing frustration among businesses, community leaders and elected officials that IPFW, as the region’s largest higher-education institution, has been slow to respond.

IPFW’s chancellor, Vicky Carwein, knows the challenges her university — which is in the midst of celebrating its 50th anniversary — faces, and she and other IPFW administrators have taken steps to address them. IPFW has sought greater autonomy and flexibility. It’s requested funding relative to its status as the state’s fifth-largest university. Earlier this summer, Mike Eikenberry, the former regional president of National City Bank, was hired as IPFW’s new business school dean because of his longstanding connections with northeast Indiana’s business and economic development leaders, not his academic achievements.

The chief recommendation from Stafford’s and Sheldrake’s study is to switch governance of IPFW from Purdue to IU and make it one of IU’s regional campuses. According to the study, IU’s regional campus model allows schools to be more adaptive and responsive to the communities they serve. Going it alone as an independent university isn’t a realistic alternative, the study states, primarily because of the value of the diplomas students receive from IU and Purdue.

Purdue, in a statement issued Thursday after the study was released, seemed somewhat resigned to the possibility that IPFW’s management could switch to IU. “… if the local community, the people of IPFW and the state’s public leadership conclude that a shift to administration by IU is advisable, we will cooperate fully in a swift transition,” the university said.

For being a shot across the bow, the study commissioned by the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership sure hit its target. The transition should start as soon as possible.