A friend and former colleague was excited to run for a seat on the Indiana University Board of Trustees this year. His enthusiasm was short-lived. At the end of the Indiana General Assembly’s legislative session, the state’s budget bill included a strange provision: It decreed that all nine members of the I.U. Trustees would be appointed by the Indiana governor.
Strange indeed because the new law didn’t affect any of the other state universities. Not Purdue or Ball State. Just Indiana. Furthermore, the university didn’t seem upset with the last-minute takeover that appeared to come out of nowhere. There were no committee hearings or opportunities for the public to comment. Just wham bam. It’s done.
My friend, who was “uninvited” to run for the trustee seat, posted on Facebook two days ago that he was “still trying to get clarity on who came up with the idea for the changes and why there was no debate on them during the budget negotiations. No luck yet, but I’m not quite done poking and prodding,” he wrote.
Good for him. I stand by ready to help him poke and prod if needed.
In the past, Indiana University’s 800,000 alums got to vote for three of the nine positions on the Trustees. The other six were appointed by the governor who is now Republican Mike Braun.
Today the news broke that Gov. Braun had removed all three I.U. trustees elected by the alumni and replaced two of them with “polarizing and well-known conservatives.”
What the heck is going on in Indiana and why isn’t every alum up-in-arms about this debacle? For starters, it’s insulting. Do the governor and the university’s administrators think that I.U. graduates are a bunch of boneheads who can’t examine an individual’s resume and determine if he or she would be an asset or a detriment to university management.
It was reported that the change was needed because not many alums had voted in recent years. I don’t buy that. The university’s graduates are generally an involved and enthusiastic bunch. While I tended to favor an accomplished female candidate, I carefully examined all on the list before casting my ballot. So what if not all of the university’s graduates participated. Not everyone in the country votes in presidential elections, but we still have them and the votes cast by the people still count.
If I. U.’s first female president Pamela Whitten was behind the change as some have suggested, then she definitely doesn’t deserve to continue in her role. Nothing good flourishes in darkness or secrecy, especially a successful institution of higher learning. If she didn’t play a role in the change, then why didn’t she offer some opposition to this government power grab?
When I was a reporter for The Indianapolis Star covering the Indiana Statehouse, I learned to keep a watchful eye on the shenanigans that would overtake common sense in the waning hours of the state legislature. I had a little help from “sources” that would call me with tips and a heads-up.
One last-minute bill that was passed included a provision that boosted the lawmakers’ retirement benefits. I didn’t learn about it until the deed had been done. But I still wrote a front-page story about it. The public deserves to know what the people they elected are up to.
And in this case, why they are messing with my alma mater.