Indiana University Bloomington Faculty Council members passed a resolution Tuesday calling on Big Ten colleges to join against political attacks and pool resources.
Following a similar resolution passed at Rutgers University, the council wants to establish a Mutual Academic Defense Compact in the Big Ten Academic Alliance. The resolution calls on university leaders to initiate the compact.
If Big Ten college leaders agree to do so, participating colleges would make legal counsel and experts available for a unified response to political and legal problems. The schools also would contribute to a defense fund to support any institution.
Council member Jim Sherman proposed the resolution, saying it’s a way to support and protect colleagues.
“This is a first step,” Sherman said. “It's saying we want to stand up. We want to stand with others and get this done.”
Rutgers’ resolution called on university President Jonathan Holloway to establish the compact. Sherman said faculty at Rutgers and other universities with similar resolutions have seen progress.
Sherman wanted to act now, instead of waiting and debating the exact language of the resolution.
“I suspect there will be changes down the road,” Sherman said. “I suspect there may be problems. But if we sit and wait, and wait, and wait, more and more of our faculty, students, staff will be anxious, will lose jobs, will be threatened.”
Provost Rahul Shrivastav said the Big Ten presidents, provost, deans, and other leaders work very closely with each other.
“I have not seen another group of institutions that is as tightly coupled as the Big Ten is,” Shrivastav said. “The request for moving money and resources, I am not an expert, but I suspect there are laws and regulations and accounting rules that restrict flow of money across institutions. So just keep that into consideration.”
The Big Ten Academic Alliance serves over 600,000 students in 18 universities.
Aubrey is our higher education reporter and a Report For America corps member. Contact her at aubmwrig@iu.edu or follow her on X @aubreymwright.
