Retired Indiana University faculty will not be able to continue serving as representatives on the Bloomington Faculty Council, at least for now.
A Monroe County judge denied three retired Indiana University faculty members’ motion for a preliminary injunction Sunday, the latest development in a lawsuit the three filed against the Board of Trustees in August.
The plaintiffs, Steven Sherman, Alex Tanford and Russell Skiba, filed the lawsuit against the Board of Trustees over a board policy change and a section of Indiana code, which now bar retired faculty from engaging in faculty governance.
The preliminary injunction would have allowed Sherman and Tanford to continue serving as retired faculty representatives on the Bloomington Faculty Council until the lawsuit is resolved. Their terms on the board were originally supposed to run until June 2026, but they were removed in June due to the policy change.
The BFC is an elected group of faculty, administration and students who make decisions on behalf of the IU Bloomington campus’ faculty. The new policies bar retired faculty from participating in the BFC, even in a nonvoting role.
The professors previously filed the injunction against both BOT-19 and Indiana code section IC 21-38-11-3 but withdrew the motion against the Indiana code Sept. 16, stating they would still seek a final judgement declaring it unconstitutional.
The order denying the injunction against BOT-19, signed by Judge Emily Salzmann on Sunday, said the plaintiffs are not likely to succeed at this stage of the proceedings.
“There has been no precedent provided to this Court that is determinative of the underlying issue in this case,” the order stated. “Several of the statutory issues have a significant lack of clarity and appear to be a matter of first impression.”
The order denying the injunction also stated the court cannot determine what impact the plaintiffs would have on outcomes of BFC meetings.
