Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne... or not.

[talksalot]

Jerry Palm posted this link... looking at their biggest-ever win over the Hoosiers a few weeks back... and now this completely unconnected event.

http://news-sentinel.com/news/local/University-presidents--state-senator-detail-IPFW-realignment--tempers-flare?platform=hootsuite

[valpo64]

The IPFW thing is a complete mess as politicians and Purdue and IU officials fight to retain and obtain funds and use them as they wish.  As a result the school gets short-changed in the long run.  The biggest problem is that no prominent Ft. Wayne community leaders or city/county/state officials have ever stepped up to lead an organized effort to make this an independent school.  It also appears that the IPFW leadership is not qualified or capable of leading any effort to solve the problem for the long haul.  It all started when the previous head of the school, now retired, couldn't get along with the local business community, and was forced to retire.  Since then bot Purdue and IU have strengthened their hold on the school and have told the community they know what is best for Ft. Wayne, Northern Indiana, and the surrounding Tri-State area.  While in the past IPFW  has had a very well-respected medical program, don't be surprised that some day in the future that the Parkview Regional Medical Center takes over and starts a medical school on their own, thus leaving the Ft. Wayne campus in a bigger mess.

As an example of how the local IPFW management team has botched things up, just look at how the sports marketing change from "IPFW" to "Fort Wayne" has been handled.  The cheer leaders uniforms still say IPFW, as does the playing court for basketball and volleyball.  Some media lutlets still use the name "IPFW" and some use "Fort Wayne".  Our friend Tom Davis recently wrote an informative article on this subject.  Now they want Purdue to handle a pretty good music/arts program.  Purdue doesn't even offer a degree in music and IU has the world famous Jacobs School of Music.  You figure it out.  There have even been rumblings of the school dropping down from D-1 in athletics.
 
It appears that those in charge couldn't organize a one-car funeral procession on this matter.  Now the procession has started.  I expect that things will get worse, not better, despite all the talks and conversation.  In the future, IPFW, or Fort Wayne, will be vastly different than it is today.

[talksalot]

wow... it sounds like the mascot:  "Mastodon" is appropriate... I believe they are extinct.

[valpo64]

Some people think they will be.