Trustee election deadline looms

The next meeting of the IU board of trustees will not be until fall and, by that time, the board could have a very different make-up than the one that met Thursday and Friday.\nThere are four trustee positions opening up that require action to be taken by IU alumni and Gov. Mitch Daniels. Former governor trustee appointees Pat Shoulders, Erin Haag Breese and current president Fred Eichhorn are facing expired terms. \nTrustee Jamie Belanger's seat, which expires June 30, is chosen by the alumni through an election. He is not seeking reelection. \nThis means at the next meeting, the board of trustees could potentially have four new members. \nBut Shoulders, who believes Daniels will not reappoint him, has decided to run for Belanger's seat along with eight other candidates. If Shoulders wins the election the board will only have three new members.\nThe board is made up of nine members: three elected and six appointed. They all serve three-year terms, except for the student trustee, who serves for two years. \nIn order to maintain a fair election, the office of the board of trustees has no control over receiving the ballots. The Alumni Association sends out ballots to all the alumni about the election and it is then the responsibility of the Office of the Libraries and Doug McKinney to safeguard the ballots until July 1 when they are counted. McKinney, a statistical data and assessment analyst, then hires 20 students to help count the ballots. Per state law, each ballot must carry the signature of the alum or it will be void. \n"This year, invalid envelopes are running at about 4.6 percent," McKinney said. "This is down significantly from 19.5 percent last year, due to a redesign of the ballot envelope."\nThe ballots are then checked against the database of living IU alumni ensuring they only voted once and are eligible to vote. \nAs of last week, 31,796 ballots were cast, including 30,346 valid and 1,450 invalid ballots.\nThe election runs from 9 a.m. until all the votes are counted, which is usually between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m., McKinney said. It is open to the public. \n"I announce the winner to those present," he said. "After that, I send reports of the election to the dean of libraries, the president of the University, the dean of faculties, CEO of the IU Alumni Association and the Governor of Indiana. I also attempt to contact all of the candidates and let them know the results."\nShoulders said he has done some campaigning. \n"I have sent a letter to my fraternity members, Sigma Nu, and some postcard mailings to southwestern Indiana alums and that is about it," he said.\nTrustee Cora Smith Breckenridge has served with the outgoing trustees for several years.\n"I'm going to miss all of them equally," she said. "They all bring their own areas of expertise. I'm hoping we will certainly have great persons who take their places if Gov. Mitch Daniels sees fit to not reappoint any of those." \nTrustee Sue Talbot said the board has worked extremely well together to accomplish their duties of governance. \n"All but one member was involved in the hiring of our current President Adam Herbert," she said. "These negotiations and other decision making opportunities have been significant in our unity of mission. Personally, I would be disappointed to lose anyone. On July 1, we will know the composition of our board as we continue working for the university in a substantive manner."\nJane Jankowski, spokeswoman for Daniels, said she does not know when the announcement is going to be made as to whom Daniels is appointing to the board.