A bill introduced Tuesday in the Indiana Senate would again allow alumni to elect three members of IU’s Board of Trustees. It would also replace the three Braun-appointed trustees who received positions in June previously held by alumni-elected trustees.
Senators Susan Glick and Greg Walker, Republicans from districts 13 and 41, respectively, authored the bill.
For over a century, alumni elected some trustees to the board, while the governor appointed the rest.
A last-minute addition to the state budget bill, which was signed into law May 6, instead permitted the governor to appoint all nine trustees and remove them at any time. Typically, the trustees serve for three years.
Gov. Mike Braun invoked his newfound power on June 2, removing alumni-elected trustees Vivian Winston, Jill Maurer Burnett and Donna Spears. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Braun in May on behalf of an IU alumnus who planned to run to fill Winston’s seat when it came up for election.
In their place, he appointed media commentator and podcaster Sage Steele, prominent conservative lawyer James Bopp Jr. and attorney Brian Eagle. If the new bill is passed, these three trustees would be replaced by alumni-elected trustees.
Under Senate Bill 110, the governor would still appoint five trustees and the student trustee. Current trustees David Hormuth, Marilee Springer, W. Quinn Buckner, J. Timothy Morris, Isaac Torres and Isaac White would be unaffected by the bill.
In addition to the reinstatement of alumni-elected trustees, the bill would also revert the student trustee’s term length back to two years rather than the current one year. All three alumni-elected trustees will also be required to be alumni of Indiana University. Currently, five of the eight non-student trustees must be alumni.
Under the current law, no more than three members of the board can reside in the same county. The new bill states that only one of the trustees elected by alumni and two appointed by the governor may live in the same county.
The bill completed its first reading Tuesday and was referred to the Committee on Education and Career Development.
