New trustee to be named Wednesday

While the presidential election is in full swing, another campaign is taking place in Bloomington as the IU community is about to elect a member to the IU board of trustees.\nThe trustees consists of nine members; six of which are appointed by the governor while the remaining three members are chosen by IU alumni. Each year one of the three elected members is chosen in a ballot process which began this year after commencement. The ballots will be counted Wednesday in the Main Library.\nThe incumbent, Sue Talbot, has been a board member since 2001. Talbot was elected with a total of 34,502 votes, of which 6,429 came from IU alumni, on her way to defeating seven other candidates for the position.\nThis time around, Talbot vies for the position against four other candidates: Robert Cummins of Naperville, Ill., David Northern of Round Lake, Ill., Faye Tippy of Gary and David Dan Welker of Roanoke, Ind. All four challengers are IU alumni.\nTalbot earned her bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in education from IU. She also served as the president of both the IU School of Education Alumni Association, the IU Alumni Association and was a founding director of the Hoosiers for Higher Education.\nTalbot said she believes she is the best candidate for the job both because of her long association with the University and her experience of working with alumni.\n"I have brought the practical knowledge of working with the University for three decades (to the board of trustees)," Talbot said. "After being president of the alumni association, I have in-depth knowledge about working with alumni for the good of this University."\nWhile Talbot's experience with IU is unquestioned, the three other candidates also bring similar credentials to the table. Cummins received his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from IU while Tippy is a member of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center Alumni Club Executive Council. \nThe race is also not a new experience for most of the candidates as Talbot and Cummins have both run for the position before.\nRegardless of the outcome, Trustee Erin Haag Breese said she has enjoyed the time she's worked with Talbot and her experience with the University has been valuable to the board. \n"Sue has done an amazing job and she has the qualities that are hard to duplicate," Breese said. "She has an unparalleled background in education and teaching and she has served on alumni association. Her understanding of the University is so extensive that it would be hard to find someone with her knowledge."\nTrustees President Frederick Eichhorn also said he values Talbot's input while serving on the board, but refuses to make any predictions about the upcoming race. As for the possibility of a new member, Eichhorn said the board is confident with whatever decision the alumni make.\n"Sue has done a great job and she's been very much involved and on top of all of the issues," Eichhorn said. "However I cannot make a judgement as to how the other people might handle the issues that we have faced and whoever is elected will most likely do a fine job. If there was a new trustee there would be an adjustment period, but we've done that time and time again."\n-- Contact managing editor Dan Patrick at djpatric@indiana.edu.