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FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — A group studying the future of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne has recommended splitting it into separate universities.
A 53-page document released Friday shows the working group tasked by the General Assembly with reviewing IPFW has recommended ending the shared governance of the 13,000-student campus.
Indiana University would keep control of the School of Medicine and enhance its health science and medical education offerings. That would mean transferring the undergraduate nursing program to IU. It is now a Purdue program with 800 students and almost $5 million in tuition revenue.
Purdue University would provide and control all other programs and course offerings.
IPFW Chancellor Vicky Carwein expressed concern about the report, particularly about transferring control of the undergraduate nursing program to IU while keeping the graduate program under Purdue. She called that "unacceptable."
"It should be noted that Purdue University has a long standing and nationally recognized reputation in both undergraduate and graduate nursing education. To divide up these programs between IU and Purdue makes no sense," she said.
The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne reported that faculty members on Friday expressed their concerns about the report and questioned why they didn't have more input in the study. Michael Berghoff, chairman of the Purdue University board of trustees and a member of the group that made the recommendations, described the report as simply a template to implement change. Teams will be formed to work through the details, he said.
He described IPFW as operating under two institutions doing the same thing with a "lack of clarity, really, of who is in charge" and who reaps the benefits.
IPFW is now governed as part of the Purdue system as the result of a management agreement between the Board of Trustees of Purdue and the Board of Trustees of IU. But tension has grown over the years, leading the General Assembly last year to seek the report.
Indiana University President Michael McRobbie issued a statement saying the university is committed to higher education in northeast Indiana.
"We find these recommendations to be a creative response to the recurring claims that something needs to be done to enhance the public higher education programs in Fort Wayne," he said.
Carwein said teams will be appointed to evaluate the recommendations and to develop plans to move forward.
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