Feature
Can Mitchonomics Fix the Broken Business of Higher Ed?
The former governor of Indiana is applying his budget zeal at Purdue University.
Mitch Daniels, president of Purdue University.
Photographer: Whitten Sabbatini for Bloomberg Businessweek
On a balmy Friday evening in West Lafayette, Ind., Purdue University President Mitch Daniels arrives at the school’s Ross-Ade Stadium in a 2006 Toyota Avalon.
He’s wearing cargo pants, sneakers, a white Purdue golf shirt, and a black baseball hat emblazoned with Degree in 3, a plug for the university’s new plan to let students shave a year off undergrad. It’s an hour before the Boilermakers’ first home football game, and the 68-year-old former two-term Indiana governor strides toward a concession stand.