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My alma mater got a divorce. After all, it was a shotgun marriage.
We shouldn’t be surprised that Indiana University and Purdue University separated, with each becoming its own Indianapolis institution, dissolving the 55-year relationship as a joint campus.
Originally, they were two separate institutions, but in 1969, the Indiana General Assembly walked them down the aisle and forced them to say IUPUI. It was the dream of a great urban university in a great city. Unfortunately, that dream never materialized because many powers-that-be didn’t want it to happen.
Many people might not even realize there were Purdue programs on the campus, even though the campus’s official name was Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis. That’s because the IU symbol is slapped on everything, even Purdue program logos. But that’s not really anything new. And it was way before the announcement of the universities’ divorce.
I have many fond memories of my years at IUPUI, where I worked as a secretary for a Purdue department full time and went to school part time. For a few years, I worked for the IUPUI News Bureau. I also covered IUPUI as a higher education reporter for The Indianapolis Star. I’ve seen it from all sides.
The last year as a student with a 13-year plan, I quit my job as secretary and became editor of The Sagamore, the late, great, award-winning student newspaper. I won an award for an editorial I wrote about how IU left IUPUI off of a display of a map of its campuses at that year’s Indiana State Fair.
That mistake exemplified IU’s disinterest in IUPUI, except for the School of Medicine, which had to be the IU School of Medicine, not the IUPUI School of Medicine. It’s no wonder the universities’ powers-that-be bemoan the lack of knowledge about who and what IUPUI was.
It was so clear to students and employees that the north side of Michigan Street, where the medical facilities were located, wagged the dog. The inequities were astounding, and academic departments on the south side of Michigan Street suffered, especially in funding.
The separation of these two universities makes me sad. Of course, the campus had to grow and change over its 55-year existence, but did it have to separate to become the best it could be?
I get the published excuse: a chance to build and grow individual institutions because of their individuality. Couldn’t they be stronger through serious, full-hearted cooperation? That’s hard in a relationship that was forced.
Even today, I know I never would have been able to get a college degree if it hadn’t been for IUPUI. It was perfect for students like me—those who worked full time and went to school part time. I was married and had a child. But I usually took nine hours a semester and made decent grades. As a university employee, credit hours were affordable, so I had no college debt.
So, on July 1, 2024, I mourned the divorce of my academic parents. I wish each of them well, but please don’t ask me to choose whom I want to “be with.” Not IU, not Purdue, but IUPUI.•
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Sharp, who graduated from IUPUI in 1978, is a freelance writer, editor, photographer, speaker and gardening coach. She is the author of HoosierGardener.com.
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The same Indianapolis-hating rural legislators who killed the Indiana banking industry are responsible for keeping our capital city from having a standalone great university. Cutting off our nose to spite our face.
Fellow IUPUI alum here. Similarly, without its evening classes and part time programs I would have never gone to college. My parents couldn’t afford it, so I worked, lived in their basement, and took a five-year (including Summers) odyssey to earn my bachelor’s degree debt free. I’ve got to say, I still don’t understand the need to “divorce” IU and PU. Both great universities have always had a presence on campus and degrees available from both. Cooperation would have been cheaper than the millions being spent just for signage and rebranding efforts.