Bloomington – Indiana University’s Provost recently made the decision to reduce funding for the Center for Research on Race and Ethnicity in Society (CRRES). The Provost will stop funding CRRES in the fall 2025 semester, citing the budget deficit in the College of Arts and Sciences as the reason why his office no longer has funds available to support the Center. IU Research (formerly known as OVPR) has also stopped funding CRRES. Within IU Research’s new classification system, CRRES could only continue being funded if the Center secured external grants and became self-sustaining in a short period of time.
While CRRES is not going away, the Center must shrink its programming substantially because the College of Arts and Sciences cannot cover the costs formerly covered by the Office of the Provost and IU Research. In fact, the College will struggle to continue funding CRRES at their current level. Upon consulting with the CRRES Advisory Board and Dean Van Kooten, Center directors decided to prioritize the postdoctoral program and research/travel funding program for graduate students. Unfortunately, the Center will likely need to cut their Undergraduate Research Program at the end of the academic year.
The defunding of CRRES by the Provost and IU Research serves as an example of a broader trend within on the IU Bloomington campus, in which academic programs and units that do not bring in revenue are considered “too expensive” and are thus disposable. CRRES joins the Intensive First-Year Seminar, The Institute for the Digital Arts & Humanities, the Food Institute, along with departments and programs like American Studies, Spanish & Portuguese, Comparative Literature, and many others that are being forced to merge or downsize. These budget priorities are based less on the actual goals of an educational institution, and more on market-driven calculations of seeing faculty as revenue-producing marketers and managers, and undergraduate students as consumers who choose majors as a form of commodity that will give them the highest financial dividends by the time they graduate.
The defunding of CRRES should trouble all who are dedicated to IUB’s global standing as a university committed to research and teaching. CRRES has been highly successful as an organization that supports, trains, and connects scholars studying race and ethnicity. CRRES has mentored and trained over twenty postdoctoral fellows, all of whom have gained tenure-track academic positions, and eight of whom are currently researching and teaching at IUB. For three consecutive years, CRRES postdoctoral fellows and affiliates have been among the recipients of IUB’s Outstanding Junior Faculty Award: Dr. Dorainne Green (former CRRES postdoc) in 2023-24; Dr. Tennisha Riley (former CRRES postdoc) in 2022-23; and Dr. Liza Black (CRRES affiliate) in 2021-22.
The CRRES Undergraduate Research Program (URP) has provided undergraduates with high-impact experiential learning opportunities by pairing them with a faculty mentor to participate in a year-long, hands-on experience with original research. The Center has over 60 faculty affiliates and 40 graduate student affiliates from the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Education, School of Public Health, the Kelley School of Business, and the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. In a large university where faculty often work in silos separated by fields of study, CRRES has played a vital role in connecting, supporting, and empowering students and faculty studying race and ethnicity. Through the supportive environment provided by CRRES, faculty affiliates and postdoctoral fellows have won competitive awards and fellowships, such as the Mellon Foundation New Directions Fellowship, the Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Lily Foundation Award, Mellon Foundation Platform Indiana Studies Fellowship, and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. CRRES has done much of the work laid out by the IUB 2030 Strategic Plan and has done this work successfully for twelve years.
In response to these budget cuts, CRRES is inviting affiliates and community members to mobilize for the rebuilding of the Center. Currently, CRRES directors and staff are collecting impact statements to demonstrate how its programs have shaped the careers and experiences of current and former IU community members. During the spring semester, the Center anticipates sharing additional opportunities to get involved, including forming grant-writing teams, and welcomes any ideas from the community on rebuilding CRRES.