Each year, the University President and the Board of Aeons identify campus issues to study. They gather information and institutional data, conduct surveys and interviews, and meet with administrators, faculty, fellow students, and other members of the campus community. When all their research is complete, the Aeons analyze their findings, determine solutions, and present recommendations in a report to the President and University administrators.
Over the years, the Aeons have made significant contributions to the university in countless areas, including improvements in teaching and learning, diversity, cultural awareness, student activities and government, campus facilities, and financial and business operations.
In 1982, the Board of Aeons released “Racism and Race-Awareness at Indiana University,” which identified the lack of integration of international and black students into the mainstream of campus life as one of IU Bloomington’s greatest problems. The iconic report piqued the interest of students and administrators and prompted action, including the addition of required culture awareness classes, the bolstering and prioritizing of minority recruitment efforts, financial aid offerings for minority students, and the development of the Minority Achievers Program.
The Aeons’ cultural awareness studies were great achievements in IU’s continuing endeavor to make the campus community more inclusive and welcoming to all.
Aeons helped to transition Wells Quad back to its original purpose as student housing and to restore the historic Old Crescent buildings to their core academic functions.
In the late 1980s, the Board of Aeons issued a report calling for the creation of a support center for gay, lesbian, and bisexual students. With the involvement of the student body senate, IU Residence Halls Association, the student ethics office, the student support group OUT, the IU Student Association, and the GLBT anti-harassment team over the next few years, the GLB Student Support Services Office was created in 1994 (the “T” for transgender was added in the late 1990s). The center offers information, meeting and study spaces, a place to celebrate sexual and gender diversity, and a home away from home.
Aeons have contributed to the establishment of soccer as a varsity sport and the transformation of the Little 500 into the largest collegiate bike race in the United States.
The Board of Aeons has maintained an interest in diversifying and increasing student representation throughout its history. One of the Board’s most lengthy deliberations has been related to IU’s student government. The idea of establishing such a body was first raised at a Board meeting in October 1925, when a member was instructed to write to the deans of other universities for feedback. Two decades later, at the urging of Dean of Men Clarence Edmondson, the Board began a structured investigation into student interest in self-government. Although the project faced fluctuating interest over the years, by 1961 the Board had bolstered support for a student government body that still exists today.
Read the full Old Crescent report and Old Crescent presentation and the Wells Quadrangle report and Wells Quadrangle presentation submitted to President McRobbie in 2010 and 2012, respectively.
See a full list of Aeons projects