A bipartisan state legislative committee will examine Purdue University’s oversight of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne and could make recommendations that lead to the local school's independence on the eve of its 50th anniversary in 2014.
Sentiment for separating from Purdue “has been building over the years,” said Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn. “A lot of people think that Purdue University doesn’t advocate properly for IPFW.”
Kruse is co-chair of the 23-member Indiana
Select Commission on Education, which will conduct a public hearing Sept. 4 at the Statehouse in Indianapolis to consider the governance structure affecting IPFW.
Kruse said the commission, which expects to report on the matter by Sept. 19, could recommend to leave things the way they are, recommend an option that would give IPFW independence or make no recommendation at all.
Among those expected to testify at the hearing are Purdue University officials and IPFW Chancellor Emeritus Michael Wartell, who was recently ousted under a Purdue retirement-age mandate. Kruse said IPFW’s incoming chancellor, Vicky Carwein, may also attend the hearing.
Purdue University in West Lafayette and its board of trustees now manage IPFW, including providing fiscal oversight.
But for too long, Kruse said, IPFW has been viewed as a stepchild, “and we don’t like being called a stepchild. We’re mature now.”
If IPFW were to achieve independence from Purdue, Kruse said, the Fort Wayne institution would become the sixth four-year state-supported college in Indiana. Besides Purdue, the others are Indiana University, Indiana State University, Ball State University and the University of Southern Indiana.