IVY TECH'S TROUBLED ROOTS: POLITICAL ENTANGLEMENTS DETER COMMUNITY COLLEGE MISSION

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A new president has been named at Ivy Tech Community College, but the same old politics remain. The tumultuous search for a president is a clear indication of how politically charged Indiana's community college system has grown and how it could disrupt the very vital role it should play in the state's economic revitalization.

In the wake of a public airing of internal intrigue and at its transition in leadership, renewed scrutiny of Ivy Tech's role may be in order to ensure state funds are being used efficiently and that Indiana has a seamless education system designed to serve both students and the state's economic interests.

A Fort Wayne union official and Ivy Tech trustee who served on the presidential search committee insist the process was carried out with integrity. But three trustees attempted to halt the search, claiming the two finalists for the job   including the newly named president   were not the best qualified candidates.

And along the way, the man later chosen as president was summoned by Gov. Mitch Daniels' education aides and told that the governor was backing Ivy Tech's executive vice president instead.

If it appears to be a political maelstrom, it has been building for some time.

"You don't have to be too politically sophisticated to see (Ivy Tech) has become a place where elected officials have been hired in droves," said Julia Vaughn, policy director for Common Cause/Indiana. "(The college) seems to have grown tremendously over a short period of time. I have to chuckle as I read the stories about the politics involved in the search. It seems rather inevitable that would be case."

Established as a statewide vocational and technical training program less than 45 years ago, Ivy Tech is now the second-largest institution of higher education in Indiana. With a spring enrollment of almost 72,000 students on 23 campuses, it ranks behind the 91,000-student Indiana University system and just ahead of the 65,000-student Purdue University system.

And while IU and Purdue command the history and alumni support, Ivy Tech holds its own in political clout. Powerful lawmakers past and present are on its payroll, including House Speaker Patrick Bauer, former Senate President Pro Tem Robert Garton and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman William Crawford.

Publicly, there are few who will suggest that Ivy Tech benefits unfairly from the legislative muscle. Privately, however, education officials and lawmakers outside the college suggest its political status is a conflict and the source of bad policy.

A community college researcher suggests that Indiana will be at a disadvantage if it doesn't develop a strong, politically autonomous system. "Community colleges are essential in any industrial-based economy moving to a knowledge-based economy," said James Jacobs, associate director of the Community College Research Center at the Teachers College at Columbia University. "The states that are recognizing that are advancing faster than the states that aren't."

Search surprise

When the longtime Ivy Tech leader, Gerald Lamkin, announced last year that he was retiring, his apparent successor was Carol D'Amico. She has been the voice and face of the community college since 2003, when she returned to Indiana after a two-year stint as assistant secretary for the Office of Vocational and Adult Education in the Bush administration. In addition, she has close ties to the governor, who worked with her at the Hudson Institute, and who has now made nine of the 14 appointments to the Ivy Tech board.

On paper, D'Amico looked like a shoo-in for the job. She holds a doctorate in leadership and policy studies from Indiana University. Her master's degree, also from IU, is in adult education and organizational development. She was co-director of the Center for Workforce and co-authored a book, "Workforce 2020."

But D'Amico has her detractors. According to Indiana Education Insight, a newsletter that focuses on state education issues, some are within Ivy Tech itself, where an "ABC   Anybody But Carol" faction sought to make sure the search committee's finalists didn't include her.

D'Amico was among six finalists, but when the presidential search committee's two top picks were released, her name was missing.

Thomas J. Snyder, the Anderson business leader the Ivy Tech board chose on Thursday, was one finalist, and Col. Thomas D. Klincar of the Community College of the Air Force was the second. It was Snyder who told reporters that the governor's aides thanked him for the work he has done and told him they had another candidate for the Ivy Tech post.

Marvin Foote, business manager and financial secretary for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 305 in Fort Wayne, served on the search committee. An Ivy Tech trustee since 1998, he said the search was aboveboard, with no hidden agendas.

"The process was very professional and very open. It took place exactly the way it was said it would take place," Foote said. "I'm going to be able to look in the mirror every day and feel comfortable with what I did."

Foote, whose initial appointment and reappointments were made by Democratic governors Frank O'Bannon and Joe Kernan, acknowledged that he didn't expect reappointment when his term expires June 30.

Political tug-of-war

As Common Cause's Vaughn notes, the meltdown over the presidential search should have come as no surprise. One of the first clues to Ivy Tech's growing political influence dates to 1999 and the original partnership between the vocational college and Vincennes University, a collaboration encouraged by former Democratic House Speaker John Gregg. He is a Vincennes grad and served as its interim president after leaving the General Assembly.

The idea was to meld Ivy Tech's vocational programs with Vincennes' liberal arts offerings, but the relationship was troubled from the start. For one, salary differences between Ivy Tech instructors and the higher-paid Vincennes faculty created tension. In addition, the Ivy Tech courses were more costly to offer. It's cheaper to offer liberal arts courses than classes that require labs and high-tech equipment.

As early as 2000, questions were being raised about the new community college system. Stretching from Ivy Tech's vocational roots, the college was beginning to reach out to students who had previously accessed higher education through the regional campuses of Indiana and Purdue universities, including Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. That set up a competition for enrollment   and dollars.

The Ivy Tech-Vincennes partnership was dissolved in 2004, but the community college title fell to Ivy Tech. By then, four powerful lawmakers were on its payroll, and the new college system began its rapid expansion.

Margaret Rivera, vice president for membership and information services at the Washington-based Association of Community Colleges, said there are other states with both a regional campus system and a community college system, and that squabbles over  money are inevitable.

"Money is always an issue   period; end of story," Rivera said.

What might be unique about Indiana, however, is that community colleges elsewhere tend to fall to the bottom of the education funding food chain   after K-12 schools and higher ed. With its tremendous political clout, Ivy Tech has quietly become the favored party.

Just look at its appropriations record: For the current academic year, the community college received a 4 percent increase in funding, according to figures from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. By comparison, Purdue University received 1.2 percent in additional dollars; Indiana University received 0.4 percent less than the previous year.

In the Democratic version of the next biennial budget, Ivy Tech stands to receive an additional 6 percent in funding, while the state's other public universities are in line for 2 percent increases. In building projects, Ivy Tech is in line for $26.7 million for a technology center in Fort Wayne, $69.4 million for expansion at the Indianapolis campus, $1 million for a new Lamkin Center and another $30 million for centers at Logansport and Sellersburg.

Duplication?

Some observers suggest that the new community college system is trying to be all things to all people. It continues to hold the lock on the vocational and technical programs it has long delivered with great success, but also has been set up by the Indiana Commission of Higher Education to serve as the higher education entry point for more and more students.

The community college is also stepping up its role in adult education   another area where critics suggest it might not be the most qualified to instruct low-level learners. There's a case to be made for leaving adult ed programs within the local K-12 program, where the students are more likely to have an existing connection.

The complaints about Ivy Tech amount to more than whining from those competing for dollars. Hoosiers need an education system that flows logically from early childhood to lifelong learning, and the current system clearly is not flowing smoothly. And until the political playing field is leveled and made transparent, there will continue to be disharmony.

Mark Keen, chancellor of Ivy Tech Community College Northeast, said he is hopeful that the college will maintain its momentum regardless of the change in leadership.

"Our latest return on investment study shows the positive impact we've had on the region," he said. "I, personally, am going to do the best I can to ensure that it continues."

Keen said educational attainment has been the state's Achilles' heel in economic development and that it is essential for the state to offer an open-access, low-cost post-secondary option for students   a place where they can "do some swirling, change majors   at half the cost to themselves and taxpayers."

Columbia's Jacobs suggests that the centralized framework for Ivy Tech is a good one. "There's not any other state that has this exact form," he said. "It could lead to lots of innovation and change."

But he cautioned that post-secondary education must generally have autonomy from the political process if it is to be successful.

"It seems unusual for state legislators to be in the administration. You would hope that support for post-secondary education would be a non-partisan decision   it should just be understood that it's important for the state," Jacobs said.

The derailed presidential search is likely a symptom of political control shifting from one party to another. But Gov. Daniels will serve Hoosiers best if he removes the political influences and works to develop a community college system designed to serve Hoosiers and not politicians.

Ivy Tech timeline

1963: Indiana legislature establishes program to provide technical and vocational education.

1971: Indiana Vocational and Technical Institute authorized to award technical certificates and terminal two-year degrees.

1987: College begins offering a limited number of degrees transferable to four-year institutions

1994: College receives statewide accreditation from North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

1995: The words "vocational" and "technical" are dropped from the name; institution becomes Ivy Tech State College.

1999: State approves a community college partnership between Ivy Tech and Vincennes University to offer liberal arts courses and degrees at several campuses.

2004: Gov. Joseph Kernan unveils plans to expand the community college to all Ivy Tech campuses and end the partnership with Vincennes.

2005: Senate Enrolled Act 296 changes the college's name to reflect its role as Indiana's statewide community college system.

--Karen Francisco has been an Indiana journalist since 1982 and an editorial writer at The Journal Gazette since 2000. She can be reached at 260-461-8206 or by e-mail, kfrancisco@jg.net