February 13, 2007

Shortridge/Butler Partnership

Butler University is about to embark on an exciting partnership that has the potential to revolutionize the role of the university in public education.

Today, Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Eugene White and I announced the Shortridge/Butler Partnership, a joint venture in which Butler University will contribute human resources to help establish Shortridge as a law and public policy magnet school beginning in 2009. Beyond providing quality secondary education, Shortridge will also give students the opportunity to earn college credits while in high school.

Butler professors from all five colleges will be invited to work with teachers at Shortridge, mentoring them, providing professional development opportunities and perhaps even teaching a class. Butler students will work with Shortridge students, both during the school day and in after-school programs. Ultimately, we hope that when Shortridge students are ready to take college classes, they will come to Butler, where they can attend some of our introductory classes and prepare for college life.

Retention of inner-city high school students is poor nationwide. This is an attempt to address this situation. It's also an opportunity to enhance Butler University's role in the community.

The plan for Shortridge is to convert what has been a middle school into a grade 6th through 12th magnet school with a curriculum that looks at learning through the lens of law and public policy. This is about broadly educating students and preparing them to exercise their rights and responsibilities as citizens of the city, state and nation.

Shortridge is the alma mater of many notable Hoosiers, including Kurt Vonnegut and Sen. Richard Lugar. Butler and Shortridge have a long common history. When Allen Benton was president of Butler in the 1860s, he determined that Butler needed a preparatory school as a feeder to the university. He called on his friend Abraham Shortridge to come to Indianapolis from Ohio to begin such a school. Shortridge eventually helped organize Indianapolis Public Schools, and this venerable school was named after him.

The partnership is still in the planning stages, but it is my hope that Shortridge will become a model of how a university/public school partnership can transform a school.

Academic and Athletic Excellence

You may be aware that nine of our 12 basketball players have been recognized as Josten's Scholar student-athletes. They were among the 170 of 404 student-athletes from all sports who were honored for this achievement. To qualify, athletes must achieve a 3.25 grade point average in the spring or fall semester, or have a 3.25 cumulative average.

We have these kinds of stories repeatedly at Butler — not just in basketball. Our students are able to achieve academically as well as athletically, and that's the kind of balance we will continue to seek.

I don't think having those dual priorities has hurt us, but I don't want to deny the challenges. Too often, people think that because we talk about the importance of academics, it means that we're willing to settle for less than the best in athletics. That's not true. We are also dedicated to excellence in the sports in which we compete. By the same token, excelling in academics and athletics requires careful allocation of our resources. These considerations were behind the recent contraction of our sports program. Going forward, we will still have more NCAA Division I sports than any school in the Horizon League.

Celebration of Diversity Award for Leadership

Finally, I'm delighted that Butler University has been awarded the Mayor’s Celebration of Diversity Award for Leadership by Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson. The award was announced on Jan. 31 at the annual Mayor’s Celebration of Diversity awards luncheon.

We've worked hard to diversify our campus, with the opening of the Efroymson Diversity Center in December being only the latest of our efforts. And we are succeeding. Butler has seen the number of domestic minority and international full-time faculty members grow from 11.5 percent in 2000 to 18.6 percent in 2006. The percentage of multicultural students in the 2001 entering class was 7.3; this year it was 11.8 percent.

We will continue to make diversity a priority. In the meantime, it is gratifying to know that others have recognized our efforts. This award from the mayor should be a great source of pride for the university.