From the Desk of the Chancellor, January 19, 2010

Chancellor Charles R. Bantz View print-quality image

It was 10 years ago—January 17, 2000—that IUPUI Chancellor Jerry Bepko delivered the first “State of Diversity” message and pledged that IUPUI would publish a yearly statistical profile to show our progress in achieving diversity.

This past Sunday, at the annual MLK Dinner sponsored by the Black Student Union, we issued the 10th IUPUI “State of Diversity” report. Over the years, it has evolved into a public portfolio that keeps us accountable for progress made toward achieving the values of diversity we hold as an institution of higher education. It provides benchmarks across a broad but strategic spectrum of activities that charts our progress on achieving the optimal educational conditions of diversity. In it, we acknowledge success and failure, opportunities lost and found, progress made and progress lost. It is clear-eyed—no holds barred and no pulled punches—truth through data.

Yesterday, we celebrated our annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service. Because his life was a testament to hope and belief through service to others, members of the IUPUI community fanned out across the city and engaged in service projects, commemorating and celebrating the life of Dr. King while renewing a commitment to the values he held dear—justice, equality, humanity, and the obligation of each to put one’s talents in the service of making the world a better place for all.

I’d like to thank the Black Student Union for organizing the MLK Dinner and for working—along with the Office of Community Service, Center for Service and Learning, Undergraduate Student Government, and Indiana Campus Compact—on organizing the MLK Day of Service activities.

As we look to the new decade that has begun, let us be guided by the words from Martin Luther King’s February 1968 sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church titled “I Am a Drum Major for Justice" when he uttered the simple but profound words: “Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve.”

At the dawn of this new decade, let us renew our quest for better performance in reflecting the diversity of our larger community as well as our commitment to assuring the ability of all to achieve to the fullest potential.