June 15, 2020
Members of the Titan Community,
I am pleased to report that our Restart Working Groups have begun meeting. We have created an IU South Bend Restart Planning web page with information about our restart planning efforts, including working group membership and priorities. In total 85 faculty, staff, students and administrators are involved in our working group efforts. I appreciate their willingness to jump in and am grateful for their leadership.
We are in the process of launching an online IUSB Restart form where members of our community can share questions about our efforts to plan for Fall 2020. This form will help to inform a Fall 2020 IU South Bend FAQ page we are also developing. Both the form and FAQ page will be housed on our Fall 2020 IU South Bend web page. Please check this page regularly as well as Fall 2020 IU for restart planning updates. IU continues to release guidance and our working groups will use this to make recommendations for steps needed to resume university operations. I want to particularly call your attention to the Return to Campus resources, which provide parameters for how we will be coming back to campus.
I also appreciate everyone’s continued patience and understanding as we work through all the details necessary for our return to campus this fall. It has been and remains a challenging time, and we have a long road ahead of us. As we continue our planning, health and safety remains a top priority. Our second priority is meeting our educational mission. In doing so, we know our strength is that we offer affordable, high quality programs right here in our community. As I described in my recent South Bend Tribune Viewpoint, members of our community can count on us to be here for them as they restart and recover from the pandemic.
Our nation and our community continue to face a challenging time as we struggle with issues of social injustice and inequity brought to the forefront by the tragic loss of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many other black and brown lives. My June 4 statement reiterates that IU South Bend does not tolerate acts of racism, bigotry, or prejudice and is committed to promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion in all we do.
Last Friday, in his Report to the Board of Trustees, President McRobbie shared a number of new actions IU is taking to address social injustice, diversity, and inclusion. Among these are a new Pandemic Health Disparities Fund, a Racial Justice Research Fund, a systemic review of all named buildings to identify any cases that are conflict with IU values, and a review of university diversity programs and policies to identify successes and areas for improvement. I look forward to having these initiatives contribute to and inform our work at IU South Bend.
Last Thursday, our Civil Rights Heritage Center, in partnership with the South Bend chapter of Black Lives Matter, hosted Perspectives on the Current Uprising, sharing cross-generational perspectives on the uprisings taking place now in South Bend and around the nation. You can visit this link to watch a recording of the event. I invite all members of our community to participate in community conversations and open, respectful dialogue as we work together towards a more equitable and just society. One opportunity coming up this week will be a virtual student Speak Out Against Racial Inequalities on Friday, June 19th at 6:00pm. For more information on this event check out the Daily Titan. There will also be an IU wide virtual Town Hall on Public Safety, Race and Racial Inequity on Tuesday, June 16th at 1:00pm. You can register for the Town Hall using this link.
Last Monday I also shared that we have launched our search for a vice chancellor for administration and finance in the Daily Titan. To access the position profile with application details, view committee membership, and stay updated on the search please visit the VCAF Search web page. The committee plans to welcome finalists to campus this fall with the goal of having a new vice chancellor start by January of 2021. We will also be relaunching our search for a new executive vice chancellor for academic affairs this fall. I want to thank Philemon Yebei and Linda Chen for their continued leadership during this time of transition as acting VCAF and interim EVCAA, respectively.
Finally, I hope you will join me and your fellow IU South Bend colleagues at our next virtual Coffee with the Chancellor, this coming Thursday, June 18th at 3:30pm, for important updates on planning for the coming academic year. As always, you are encouraged to bring questions as well as stories of accomplishments and achievements. Instructions for joining the meeting will be available at Coffee with the Chancellor by 2:30pm the afternoon of the event.