The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana and former IU Board of Trustees candidate Justin Vasel announced Tuesday they have filed a lawsuit against Gov. Mike Braun over the last-minute addition to the state budget giving Braun total control over the board’s member selections.
HEA 1001, which eliminated the three alumni-elected positions on the board, was signed into law Tuesday. The board comprises nine trustees, six of whom have been historically chosen by the governor, while the other three are elected by IU’s alumni and serve three-year terms.
Under the new law, Braun can remove and replace the current elected members of the board at any time, which includes Vivian Winston, Jill Burnett and Donna Spears. This year’s election for Winston’s seat was set to begin June 1. Several alumni, including plaintiff Justin Vasel, had already submitted 200 necessary signatures and materials to run for the position.
IU has said that the election process would not continue if Braun were to sign the bill.
The ACLU of Indiana announced Tuesday that it was filing a lawsuit against Braun, with Vasel as a plaintiff, claiming the law violated the Indiana Constitution. The case was filed in the Monroe Circuit Court.
“The new legislation that targets Indiana University and only Indiana University is special legislation,” the lawsuit reads. “There is nothing unique about Indiana University that justifies application of the new statutory scheme to it and not to Indiana’s other four-year universities.”
The law does not require other universities to change their election procedures. The lawsuit claimed that the new law violates a part of the state Constitution that states “all laws shall be general, and of uniform operation throughout the State.”
“This case touches on fundamental questions about democratic representation in public institutions and constitutional constraints on legislative power,” Vasel told the IDS in an email Wednesday. “Issues that transcend partisan politics and affect all Hoosiers who care about good governance.”
Vasel and the ACLU requested that the court declare the section of the law unconstitutional and void and enter a preliminary injunction that would allow for the planned election to continue.
