IU joins Alliance for Indiana’s Future

New coalition will emphasize affordable, accessible public higher education

By Susan Williams

Ferguson

While the Hoosier economy of the 20th century depended on manufacturing, a new economic base in the 21st century will require a technologically sophisticated workforce that will draw new businesses to the state.

Myles Brand, President, Indiana University

The announcement was made in the Indiana Statehouse before media, legislators, lobbyists and Statehouse employees.

According to group spokesman Joe Barnette, immediate past-president of Bank One and past chairman of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, the alliance is a unique coalition of more than 20 member groups. Its goal is to advocate a long-term vision for the future of Indiana to a legislature grappling with the creation of a new tax structure that will ease a state budget deficit.

The alliance’s emphasis falls upon the following five guiding principles:

• Reduction of property taxes so that home ownership remains affordable and farmers can keep their land;

• Restructuring of business taxes to support economic development for the global economy and the information age of the 21st century;

• K-12 public school funding that is sufficient for excellence and allows schools to accomplish the state academic standards and school accountability reforms;

• Funding for a high-quality public higher education system that keeps colleges and universities accessible and affordable for the state’s high school graduates and supports the interconnection of research with advanced technologies and economic development; and

• Creating a tax structure that provides the revenues necessary to fund the investments required to achieve the alliance’s vision for Indiana’s future.

“Indiana University is pleased to be a part of this unprecedented coalition working toward Indiana’s economic well-being,” said IU President Myles Brand. “We are here because we are all aware that our state faces a serious fiscal challenge. Members of our General Assembly must come together to provide solutions to this difficult problem.

“The problem we face really has two parts. First, we must restructure taxes in a way that positions Indiana well for the 21st century. We also must address deficit issues,” Brand continued. “And second, we must develop a vision for Indiana. It’s been said ‘where there is no vision, the people perish.’ If we lack vision, the economy will not thrive, and that will have significant human costs.”

During the final quarter of the 20th century, according to Brand, Indiana based a high percentage of its economy on basic manufacturing—a higher percentage than any other state in the nation. In order to avoid human costs, he stressed the need to develop a new economic base in Indiana with 21st century industries. “The 21st century is the age of the mind, not the back, and Indiana’s economic planning must reflect this reality,” he said.

Brand offered university research projects, such as IU’s Indiana Genomics (INGEN) Initiative and its Pervasive Technology Labs as examples of the kind of programs that can drive a new state economy. He also pointed to new educational opportunities through the IU School of Informatics that would provide a technologically sophisticated workforce which would help draw new businesses to Indiana.

IU trustee Steve Ferguson, representing the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, the Indiana Health Industry Forum and the Indiana Research and Development Coalition, talked about the advances of the past century.

“If it were 1900 and we were looking forward to 2000, could we have imagined the changes we would see in technology, medicine, transportation, communication and society in the next 100 years?” he asked. “As we stand here today, we are going to see more changes in the next 20 years than we have seen in the last 100. We must prepare our state, children and our economy for the future.”