Board of Trustees to convene at IUPUI

When big decisions about the University need to be made, it’s a group of nine people that has the final say. These nine people collectively form the IU Board of Trustees, which works with IU President Michael McRobbie and other University executives.

“As a state university, we’re beholden, ultimately, to the taxpayers and the residents of the state of Indiana,” Associate Vice President for University Communications Mark Land said. “So the way we’re governed, we’ve got the president and the other executives on campus who run the day-to-day operations of the University, but we have a Board of Trustees who is kind of the final group of overseers.”

The Board of Trustees will meet today and tomorrow at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis. The board’s business meeting will be at 11:30 a.m. Friday in room 132 of the University Place Conference Center.

The members will be discussing issues ranging from spring enrollment to a variety of new degrees being proposed for approval including an online program for a Master Degree in Educational Leadership to be offered through IU-Bloomington.

The board consists of five members appointed by the state governor, three members elected by University alumni and one student delegate. They meet six times a year to make decisions affecting all campuses University-wide.

“Trustees don’t run the University,” said Dr. William Cast, a physician and the chair of the Board of Trustees. “The administration runs the University. Trustees just have oversight.”

Cast said each board member as an individual receives no special privileges. Rather, the board as a whole is responsible for various sectors in the University.

He said the board has changed greatly since it was created in 1820, but now, the group manages University property as if it were its own, for the citizens of Indiana.

The responsibilities of the Board of Trustees are assigned by state law and cover all aspects of University business, according to the Board of Trustees website.

As a board, the nine members can set tuition and determine admissions standards.

Cast said a lot of what the trustees do is setting and approving numbers, especially since the Board of Trustees interacts with the budgets of three different institutions: IU Health, which includes both the hospital of the same name and the IU School of
Medicine; the IU Foundation; and the University, which consists of eight different campuses.

The Board of Trustees is also responsible for selecting the University president and other executives, which Cast said has been one of the most challenging parts of the job he encountered since his appointment in 2005.

“All the trustees care a great deal about the University and higher education,” Cast said. “What is rewarding is to try to make it better. That’s really everyone’s goal on the board.”

The Board of Trustees will convene today and Friday on the IU-Purdue University Indianapolis campus.

At the meeting, board members and University administration will discuss, among other things, renovation and expansion of the IU-Bloomington Kelley School of Business and will approve new degree programs.