Trustees pass all measures Friday

All of IU’s important administrators were milling around, talking to one another. Then Trustee Patrick Shoulders hummed the Indiana fight song, and everyone rushed to their seats.

For two days this past weekend the nine trustees discussed and addressed more than 15 different topics that pertained to all of IU’s campuses.

The main committees that addressed the board were the Finance and Audit, Health Affairs, Facilities and the Academic Affairs and University Policies committees. Among them, the most important items debated were a 6 percent increase in the residence hall rates, design approvals for IU-Bloomington bus stop and transit changes and approval of three new degrees.

Friday during the business meeting, the trustees approved every single action item that was brought before them, including the three items already stated.

Other items that were approved included an IU-North Tamarack Hall replacement that will cost an estimated $45 million. Temporary and permanent easements were granted to Bloomington for the construction of a sidewalk on the north side of East Third Street in the areas of Bryan and Jefferson streets.

The undergraduate student organization president for IU-Purdue University Indianapolis addressed the board about the need for more residence halls on the IUPUI campus as well as a health and wellness facility.

Courtney Robertson, the president of the Undergraduate Student Organization, said the IUPUI students were desperate for a new and improved health and wellness center.
“We really need some place to call our own,” Robertson said.

The trustees said they would think about Robertson’s remarks and discuss them at a future meeting.

IU President Michael McRobbie gave his president’s report. Before starting he said, “I would like to highlight some quite remarkable developments.”

In his report McRobbie talked about the renaming of the IU health hospital and the amount of money IU received this past year as voluntary gifts.

The trustees will meet again April 14 and 15 on the IU-Bloomington campus.