'Still in the dark': IUPUI split causes faculty departures, difficulties for students

When Indiana University and Purdue University’s boards of trustees announced in 2022 that Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) would be separating after more than 50 years of joint operation, they created two types of campuses.

Indiana University Indianapolis (IUI), which absorbed approximately 25,000 of IUPUI’s 27,000 students and most of IUPUI’s departments and buildings, became a “core campus” within the IU system.

But Purdue University in Indianapolis (PUI), which kept only the computer science department and School of Engineering and Technology, transformed into a “satellite campus” for Purdue University West Lafayette.

Purdue announced plans to expand enrollment at PUI, and Purdue University President Mitch Daniels said he envisioned PUI as an extension of the West Lafayette campus, which would offer West Lafayette students an opportunity to study in Indianapolis for a year or two.

“Our state and its largest city require a world-class, high-technology research presence of the quality Purdue represents,” Daniels said in a press release at the time.

But that satellite relationship created an issue; to employ West Lafayette faculty at the Indianapolis campus, Purdue would need to make room.

'They simply didn’t consider us their faculty'

Shortly after the split was announced, Purdue asked faculty members in IUPUI’s computer science department and School of Engineering and Technology to submit their curricula vitaes in order to determine their placements at PUI.

When they finally received their offers, however, many faculty members were surprised to learn they’d not been offered the same positions they had working at IUPUI. Instead, several tenured faculty members were offered appointments with “university tenure,” a position that maintained their rank and pay, but not their role within their departments. University tenured faculty were to report to a “new academic unit” created specifically for PUI staff.

David Umulis, senior vice provost of Purdue University Indianapolis, said university tenure appointments honored the existing positions of IUPUI faculty while allowing West Lafayette faculty to integrate into PUI.

“It's just a process for combining the two structures and meeting our obligations to the faculty that are in the transition,” Umulis said. “We’re making sure that they have an environment where they can grow and thrive on moving forward, and at the same time, preserving and utilizing the normal West Lafayette faculty assignments.”

But to some at IUPUI, the offers seemed like a demotion.

Andy Harris, a former IUPUI computer science professor who now teaches at Ball State University, said since “university tenure” appointments lack a departmental home, the offers presented a challenge to their ability to continue research. Harris himself was not on a tenure track at IUPUI, but heard from several faculty members who said they were disappointed in their offers from Purdue.

“Since you don’t have a department home, in reality, you’re never going to complete research, and effectively, your career was over,” Harris said. “And that was rejected as a ridiculous offer by pretty much everyone.”

Brandon Sorge, an associate professor at the School of Engineering and Technology, said even if faculty were able to continue research with their appointments, the university tenure title was perceived as a lesser title.

“Purdue has now created a two-tiered system of tenure,” Sorge said. “By putting us in the university tenure, it allows us to teach and continue to do our research, but it still puts us in a lesser state than the rest of the faculty who are part of Purdue West Lafayette.”

As a result of these offers, and the time taken to receive them (Harris said he waited for months to receive an offer from Purdue, and had already received an offer at Ball State by the time he got an interview), many faculty left IUPUI. Some took up positions at IUI’s Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering, while others, like Harris, left Indianapolis altogether.

“They simply didn’t consider us their faculty, and I can understand why,” Harris said.

That’s also created complications for IUPUI students caught in the middle of the transition.

Computer science students 'Still in the dark'

Daniel Johnson was in freshman orientation at IUPUI when he got the news.

“The teacher of our class just sort of mentioned it flippantly, that it was in the works to happen,” Johnson said. “It totally threw us off guard.”Now a sophomore in IUPUI’s computer science department, Johnson says the loss of faculty has made it difficult for computer science students to pursue research opportunities and find classes to complete their degree programs.

“I feel bad for my adviser, because she’s been receiving a lot of anger from people that’s not justified at her,” Johnson said. “I think it’ll have a ripple effect in the program.”

Harris says since leaving IUPUI for Ball State, he’s heard from several former students who are having difficulty finishing their degree programs, especially for the junior and senior-level classes.

“This is what I’m hearing from my students, like, ‘Every class, I’m having to fight to get the required classes,’” Harris said. “I’m taking phone calls from them saying, ‘I can’t take any classes. I can’t finish my degree, and Purdue won’t answer my calls.'”

Johnson says even though Purdue has been working to find faculty to teach the classes the computer science major requires, he thinks the faculty absences caused by PUI’s university tenure offers will make it more difficult for students in his class to develop relationships with professors and pursue long-term research opportunities.

“All the faculty will be new, so they might not have as much connections to the city of Indianapolis and the research that’s going on here already,” Johnson said. “It’ll definitely be harder if I stay at Purdue.”

With only a few months before IUPUI formally severs into two universities in July, Johnson says he’s still deciding whether he will remain at PUI or move into IUI’s Luddy School. But transferring, too, could cause a litany of complications, from Johnson’s scholarship eligibility to remaining on track to graduate.

Sorge says IUPUI has a long legacy of opening up educational opportunities to non-traditional college students, like those pursuing degrees part-time and those who can’t afford a traditional four-year institution. As IUPUI transitions into two universities, Sorge says he hopes Purdue is able to maintain that emphasis on accessibility.

“Not all of our students look the same as a West Lafayette student,” Sorge said. “A lot of them are working a full time job while they’re finishing classes, so we may not have as many people doing a four year bachelor’s undergraduate – it may take them five or six years.”

Johnson says as the transition is finalized in the coming months, he hopes for more transparency and answers from Purdue.

“I think they need to be more vocal with the student body once they have answers, because a lot of questions are still in the dark,” Johnson said. “But I think Purdue is slowly figuring out their plan.”Reach Brian Rosenzweig at brian@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: iupui split causes difficulties for purdue faculty and students