Indiana and Purdue (which is public) both wanted a university presence in Indy. They made the decision to combine university structures at this campus (not entirely unprecedented - Virginia Tech and UVA do the same thing in Northern Virginia). IU and Purdue have similar arrangements at Columbus and Fort Wayne (which has an NCAA Division II athletics program and a very good Division I men's volleyball team). The difference is the focus at IUPUI (eew-ee-poo-ee, easily one of the coolest-sounding acronyms I've ever heard) on making it more than simply a place where students take courses and trying to develop school spirit. While students take courses from Indiana or Purdue professors, they root for *their* team rather than one in West Lafayette or Bloomington. Indiana and Purdue leave the administration of the athletics department to IUPUI and will occasionally play IUPUI. So IUPUI gets press and an identity and IU and Purdue get interest in the state capital. Hayden, who is posting this partially because, during his employment-related travels, he met one of the members of the first IUPUI men's basketball team.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0: Sat 12 Feb 2022 12:30:45 AM EST EST