Good riddance to the old trustee

Columns about the IU board of trustees rarely stir up much interest from readers. Yet when I told a close friend of mine about some of the dark and ugly decisions by the administration, he was ready to post flyers about it throughout campus. Now, I don't expect any of you to jump up out of your seats and march on the Bryan House (only Bob Knight can cause that). But hopefully you'll take some interest in some very significant recent changes to the very core of Indiana University.\nLast Monday Gov. Frank O'Bannon's office announced the appointment of Sacha Willsey to a two-year term as the IU student trustee. The student trustee sits on the IU board of trustees as an equal member. It's a pretty big deal when you consider that the board decides everything from admission standards, to curricula, to new buildings, and even tuition for IU.\nUnfortunately, the student trustee's post has been questionable lately. In fact, our last student trustee was actually a Purdue student! For a Hoosier, that's like having Fidel Castro or Saddam Hussein choose the next U.S. President. It just shouldn't happen.\nResearch from the Open Meeting Case now being fought in court identifies Dean Hertzler, the outgoing student trustee, as a student at IUPUI. IUPUI is a partnership between IU and Purdue, and all of its programs are either accredited by IU or Purdue. Unfortunately, Hertzler is in a degree program accredited by Purdue and thereby brings his legitimacy on the Board into question.\nFor anyone who knows anything about the IU-Purdue rivalry, it's ludicrous to imagine a Purdue student making the biggest decisions that affect IU. Not surprisingly, Hertzler was quiet during the board's decision to raise tuition.\nRemember how I said only the firing of Bob Knight could make students march on the Bryan House? Well our favorite Purdue student, Dean Herztler, can partially be thanked for that act as well.\nWhen the Knight saga first began to unfold, many board members wanted to rid the school of Knight's presence early on. In fact, the board was split 5-4 in favor of firing Knight, with Hertzler in the slim majority. However a decision of that magnitude, based on Hertzler's vote, would've revealed his Purdue allegiance and it might have become the focus of attention. Someone would almost surely have challenged his legitimacy, and in the process brought all of the board's decisions into question.\nSo the Trustees, who are always looking out for the student, decided to step in and help Hertzler (of course, they were also saving their own hide). Two of the Trustees came up with the idea of a "zero-tolerance policy" for Knight, knowing full well that it could be interpreted so broadly that Knight would never be able to live up to it.\nAfter releasing a video tape of Knight choking a student, and playing up an incident in which Knight touched the son of a detractor, another member switched and decided to favor his dismissal as well. Hertzler was off the hook and the rest is history.\nThis only touches the tip of the iceberg of problems plaguing IU's administration. This columnist has already discussed over $3 million wasted each year through the "Chancellor's Discretionary account." But similar budget waste goes on in the athletic department, the hospital irresponsibly sold by IU, and wasteful traveling expenses made by the trustees themselves.\nI hope and pray that the new student representative, Sacha Willsey, voices the student's concern for sanity and order on the board. While a Purdue student who helped to ensure Knight's firing and jack up our tuition influenced the nomination of Sacha, she still has a chance to prove herself. After all, I have to think that the student trustee's position has nowhere left to go but up.