Ball State University will welcome a record-setting freshman class to campus on Monday.  Today, as IPR’s Stephanie Wiechmann reports, the new president of the Muncie school talked to assembled faculty about the good in academia in Indiana and the trouble in the country.

Ball State President Geoff Mearns says more than 4,000 freshmen are set to study in Muncie this fall.

“Now, we have to wait.  We have to wait about 10 days until a week from Monday to confirm the final census.  But this fall, we may very well enroll the largest freshmen class in our history.  And these new students will be as well qualified and more diverse than last year’s class.”

Total enrollment for the school could also exceed 22,000 students, which would also be a record.  The university, which Mearns calls fiscally sound, is awarding a larger number of degrees than in past years and more of those degrees are being completed on-time, according to state data.

Mearns had positive numbers and good news for the campus that has seen interim leadership after the previous university president resigned abruptly after less than two years on the job.  Mearns says he understands the faculty’s frustration.

“I know that you have gone through a protracted transition in leadership.  I can appreciate that this transition has caused some uncertainty, and perhaps some anxiety as well.  It certainly has diverted some attention from the fundamental strength, from the good work of this university.”

He says the school will once again begin marketing itself to Indiana and other states with a new brand and a new marketing campaign.  And Mearns laid out a year-long timeline to create the university’s next strategic plan.

His standing ovation, though, came when the Charlottesville native and University of Virginia Law alumnus addressed the recent white supremacist violence in his hometown.

“All of us must condemn – condemn unequivocally – the racial hatred, the bald-faced bigotry that instigated the violent confrontation that lead to the deaths of these three people.”

Mearns called for a campus that is inclusive to all culture, and he says that will include having “courageous conversations” about race and background.