> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://circuitpress.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Interview with Interim President Mitch Daniels on Purdue Indy - URL: https://circuitpress.org/interview-with-interim-president-mitch-daniels-on-purdue-indy/ - Published: 2026-11-03T04:30:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-03T04:29:59.000Z - Description: We had the opportunity to interview Interim President Mitch Daniels. He said "students come first" in response to our question about how the University should balance student needs with its business goals. - Author: Omkar Govil-Nair - Tags: News Watch the full interview on YouTube. *Published at 11:30pm ET on November 2.* *The interview was recorded on October 29, with videography and audio production by Ethan Twu.* We had the opportunity for a brief interview with Interim President Mitch Daniels in the minutes between his arrival to the Indy campus on the Campus Connect shuttle and his scheduled appearance at a Polytechnic Spirit Day event on campus last Thursday. We set up outside the shuttle stop and watched as President Daniels took selfies and talked with each of the students who happened to be riding the shuttle with him that day. Before his time as Purdue President from 2013 to 2022, Daniels was a two-term Governor of Indiana and served as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush. Daniels' political experience showed both in his eagerness to talk to every student that approached him as well as in his responses to our questions about how the Indy campus has been run so far and its future. Notably, he affirmed that it is the University's job and "not the students' job" to provide opportunities which attract prospective students to the Indy campus, and that the University has not yet achieved its advertised "One Purdue" across the two campus locations. He also said that the process of registering for West Lafayette (WL) courses as an Indy student "ought to be completely seamless", and that "students come first" when prioritizing against the University's business goals and those of the state. These last two points appear to conflict with the experiences of students, who depending on major and year may not be able to request WL courses at the same time or in the same way as WL students. President Daniels repeated several times in the interview the importance of university administrators listening to students. And it seems clear that only by both listening and acting on the needs of the students can the University fill in the gaps and meet the vision he outlined in the interview. Watch the video to see the full interview, or read the transcript below which has been lightly edited for length and clarity: **You committed to doubling the enrollment in Indy by 2031\. That's a University and Board backed commitment. However, the enrollment has been dropping year-over-year for the couple of years that Indy has been here so far, and similar drops are not reflected in West Lafayette. So what gives you the confidence that the university will be able to meet these goals and will have the resources to support that growth sustainably?** I don't know how confident to be. I know it's the right goal. I know that it's the responsibility of the administration and those of us in and who are responsible for the university to listen carefully and devise the additional opportunities, both the academic and vocational and social opportunities that will attract more students here. What we're convinced, what I really know is that there are great opportunities here for at least many of our students that we can't make available in the same numbers in West Lafayette. I'm talking about internships and summer jobs and employment opportunities to augment the academic experience. So it's not the students' job, it's our job to create the demand. By, again, listening closely enough. That's one reason I rode the bus. Got a chance to ask a lot of people what they like about it now and what might make it me even more attractive. **What does the idea of "One Purdue" mean to you and do you think it's been implemented successfully so far?** No, I don't think we're there yet. But I think we're gaining on it and I think that the more people who sample this campus \[the Indy campus\] or the people from here who we try to make it very easy for them to take courses up there, take part in activity up at West Lafayette, the more interaction we have, the more students get to know each other, hear from each other about the special pluses of each place, the more likely we'll close in on our goal. **You mentioned taking courses in West Lafayette. Currently there is some concern that in the future students may not be allowed to request or may have different processes for requesting courses in West Lafayette as an Indy student. So what's your vision for how students should be allowed to take classes in West Lafayette? Do you think that process should be the same regardless of your home location?** Absolutely do. And I'm unaware of those obstacles. If they're there, we need to take them down. I don't think there are. But it ought to be completely seamless. It *is* one university. The standards for the students are the same. The standards for the faculty are the same. The course offerings are the same. And so once again I think the burden rests on those of us responsible for the university's activities to first of all devise and secondly make certain that we've communicated this whole range of choices. Indianapolis expands the choices for our students in a big way, we just have to make certain that those who want to can take advantage of them. **How do you balance with such a big university the needs of the students, the business goals of the university and, critically here in Indianapolis, the goals and needs of the State as well which is pouring a lot of money into Purdue Indianapolis. How do you prioritize when some of these needs compete?** Students come first. And if we get that right, if we do listen to our students, if we do create the right set of choices and opportunities, the business of the university, and this has been our experience, of course, the student population has grown a lot at West Lafayette and the business of the, if you want to call it that, of the university has never been stronger. Same thing can continue to happen. And if we do those things, if we serve our students well, then the State's got to be happy because we are delivering. As I always tell them, we are exactly the kind of university that every state wants right now, given what our students are studying, the quality of their education. And I always tell them, if Indiana didn't have a Purdue University, you all would be trying to invent one. And we have to keep living up to that. --- *We check every Circuit article for accuracy. If you spot an error or omission, please email contact@circuitpress.org.*