IU alumnus vying for incumbent trustee's postSteve Sanders 1981 IDS article

For years, Steve Sanders worked for then-IU-Bloomington Chancellor Ken Gros Louis. Come June, Sanders hopes Gros Louis will work for him. \nSanders recently submitted his name as a candidate for trustee elections as voted for by IU alumni. Sanders will oppose incumbent trustee Cora Smith Breckenridge, who has served on the board for three consecutive terms. \nOf the nine-member board, the governor appoints six trustees and IU alumni elect three to three-year terms.\nAn alumnus of IU and former faculty member, Sanders said he believes his personal ties to the University make him the ideal trustee candidate. \n"I've been going to board of trustee meetings since 1981," said Sanders, who covered the trustees as a student beat writer for the Indiana Daily Student. He said his connection to current professors and administrators would allow the faculty to be more candid with him in conversation.\nAfter graduating in 1984 with a degree in political science and journalism, Sanders took a job with the University in 1986, where he worked as an administrative staff member, adviser and teacher until 2002. Sanders recently received a law degree from the University of Michigan and will begin work at the Chicago offices of international law firm Mayer, Brown, Rowe and Maw. \nSanders said the most important issue for the trustees in the near future is the selection of a new University president. \n"Many people recognize that President Herbert is a very warm man and a very gracious man," he said. "I think many people recognize President Herbert is not as strong and an effective leader they had hoped he was."\nOne of his opponents, Breckenridge, disagrees with Sanders' assessment of the most important issue facing trustees, saying "affordability and accessibility" are most important. \n"The state government is not giving us the funding they have been in the past," Breckenridge said. "We have to realize goals for our institution. We need to be able to keep our tuition rates reasonable so that we don't make our school inaccessible, especially by those persons who have the kinds of ability that they need but not the type of financial acumen."\nA first-generation college graduate himself, Sanders agreed it is important the University be affordable. \n"I am the only person in my immediate family to attend college," Sanders said. "I always want Indiana University to be the kind of place that will open the world the way it did for me."\nLike Sanders, Breckenridge boasts a resume with years of service to IU. A 1959 graduate and 1963 master's recipient, she has been a trustee since 1997, when she was the first black trustee to sit on the board. \nBreckenridge said her experience allows her to work on committees and have positions of leadership newly appointed trustees are not offered.\n"I consider it a great privilege to serve back to my alma mater," Breckenridge said. "I felt that my service has been needed and my perspective is one that was not available to the trustees before."\nSanders recognized the past few months have been difficult for IU with the pressures on Herbert, the University's first black president, to leave at the end of his contract and Mike Davis, the University's first black men's basketball coach, to resign. He stressed his candidacy against Breckenridge is merely a coincidence.\n"This was the right time for me to do it," he said. "I am running because of what I believe I can offer to Indiana University"