Purdue University Fort Wayne Students Win Battle Over Proposed Diploma Language Change
A proposal that would have altered the language on diplomas of Purdue University Fort Wayne graduates has been shelved by the Purdue Board of Trustees.
This week, trustees were set to vote on a plan where a diploma earned at the Fort Wayne campus would be labeled as a degree from “Purdue University Fort Wayne” instead of the current “Purdue University” distinction.
Students and faculty say they were stunned by the news. The vote was scheduled with “unanimous consent” for Friday in West Lafayette and, without official notice from the University, many students did not find out about the proposal until Wednesday morning. By the afternoon, a protest was circling around Facebook.
After Fort Wayne students planned a protest Thursday, PFW chancellor Ron Elsenbaumer offered students an open forum to hear concerns.
Jenn Reeve is a women’s studies and communication major, and student senator. She attended the meeting to represent the student populous, and says the hard work students paid a lot of money for was being redefined without their consent under the proposal.
“To minimize this and seem like it’s not that large a decision because it’s the change on the diploma and not the degree itself is saying, ‘Whatever, you don’t have to display that diploma to your employer. That diploma doesn’t matter.’”
“Are you not proud of Purdue Fort Wayne?” Elsenbaumer asked the students. The students responded earnestly, with a number of confused, but vocal, “no” answers.
That moment speaks to a significant distrust between the students and administration that has existed since the university made the decision to change its identity from “Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne” to simply “Purdue University-Fort Wayne” in 2016.
Emily Anderson is majoring in human services and also has three minors. She says it’s not about pride for her: she moved to Fort Wayne from Oklahoma, and chose to Purdue Fort Wayne because her diploma — and thus, resumé — would express the prestige of “Purdue University.”
“Given the choice between a student that has a Purdue Fort Wayne diploma in her possession, and a student with a Purdue University degree — in Oklahoma, not here where people know what this school is — do you think there’s any difference?” she said.
Rishi Mitra is a computer engineering major also unhappy with the situation. He says he traveled across the world only to feel like a victim of false advertising.
“I didn’t cross it for a satellite degree, I crossed the globe for a Purdue University degree,” Mitra said. “That’s what was dangled in front of me, that’s what the website said, that’s what my contact person said, that’s what the emails I received said; emails I still have.”
After more than an hour of heated discussion, Elsenbaumer left to take a call with Purdue University president Mitch Daniels. When he returned, the proposal was dead.
Purdue University Fort Wayne graduates will still receive a diploma citing “Purdue University,” with a note the degree was earned at “Purdue University Fort Wayne” — at the very bottom. Students say it is an acceptable trade-off.
It is unclear if the effort will be revisited in the future.
