Introduction: On Learning, Freedom, and Democracy

When Ryan Korstange and I first talked about this idea of “creating a university from scratch,” I had no idea what the end product would be. I don’t think he knew either. As he recounts in his interchapter contribution, it all began with the lottery. More specifically, it began when the Powerball first hit $1 billion. I was in our Dean’s Office suite at Indiana University Kokomo talking with our administrative assistants and I declared that if I won $1 billion that I would start my own university. But how would you do that? I really had no answer, but I knew that Ryan was the type of person who would appreciate such a question. He arrived in Kokomo a few days later, and we headed up to the Chicago area for a conference.

We couldn’t shake the questions. How would you create a university from scratch? How would you start? What would be the foundational goals and principles? And the more we thought about it, the more we were convinced that we should try to answer the questions. We also knew that neither one of us had the answer alone or even together, and that we really needed an interdisciplinary team to engage the question.

We started by having a lot of conversations with people who would be potential team members or at least people who would be able to recommend team members. The list below includes all those who provided feedback, asked critical questions, and/or suggested additional people for us to contact or consider for the team:

• • Mark Canada, Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (IU Kokomo)

• • Christine Cruzvergara, Vice President, Higher Education & Student Success, Handshake

• • Jerry Daday, Director, Institute for Engaged Learning (IUPUI)

• • Robin DeRosa, Plymouth State University

• • Timothy Eatman, Imagining America

• • Nicole Joseph, Vanderbilt University

• • Eileen Julien, Director, Institute for Advanced Study (IU Bloomington)

• • Kelly Kish, Director of the Indiana University Bicentennial and Deputy Chief of Staff in the Office of the President

• • Thomas Nelson Laird, Director, Center for Postsecondary Research (IU Bloomington)

• • George Mehaffy, Vice President, American Association of State Colleges and Universities

• • Paul Markham, Founding Partner, SOVA

• • David Scobey, Bringing Theory to Practice

• • Jeremy Strayer, Middle Tennessee State University

• • Cheryl Torsney, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, Chief Diversity Officer, Middle Tennessee State University

We thank all of these good people for entertaining our idea and helping us in the early stages of the project.

We then sought funding. Fortunately, both Ryan and I are active in the Society for Values in Higher Education—and that wonderful organization provided critical seed money for the project. We thank the Board of Directors and the membership for its support. With the SVHE funding, I then approached the Indiana University Office of Research. At the time, Faith Hawkins was my contact. She provided incredibly valuable feedback on the idea and really pushed us to think more deeply (and act accordingly) about the diversity of voices we needed on the team. She then was instrumental in securing a generous grant from Indiana University. Many thanks to Faith for her assistance and to Indiana University for its generosity and willingness to support this project.

Faith also put us in touch with a number of IU folks who helped advance our work, including Eileen Julien at the Institute for Advanced Study and Kelly Kish from the President’s Office, who was organizing the IU Bicentennial Celebration. We thank both of them for their assistance, particularly in making our team's meeting in Bloomington so effective.

We then proceeded to build the team. Overwhelmingly, the people we contacted were excited about the project—even those who had professional or personal commitments that prevented them from joining the team. I am so thankful to Susan Blum, Oscar Fernandez, Mays Imad, Thomas Nelson Laird, and Kate Pantelides for their willingness to join the project and devote such time and energy to bringing it to fruition. I also want to thank Ryan for assuming the role of team leader. As you will discover, the team was incredibly democratic and sought consensus all along the way—but...