The Indiana University Board of Trustees will meet at the Madam Walker Legacy Center in Indianapolis at 8 a.m. Friday for its first public meeting of the year.
Items on the agenda include rescinding authorization for its campus IU diversity committees, adopting a resolution on the Chicago Principles on Freedom of Expression and an approval request for a contract amendment for President Pamela Whitten.
Here’s what to know about the meeting:
Request to rescind IU Diversity Committee authorization
Senate Enrolled Act 202 requires universities to approve and authorize the creation of diversity committees at each campus. These committees make recommendations about faculty employment policies regarding cultural and intellectual diversity issues and recruitment and retention of minority and underrepresented students. Committees also issue an annual report stating their findings and conclusions to the BOT.
The Bloomington diversity committee is composed of seven members: three faculty, two staff, one administrator and one student identified by the chancellor or another designee. The committee meets quarterly to review and recommend numerous policies concerning intellectual diversity on campus.
By June of each year, each campus diversity committee must submit their findings individually to the BOT.
At the BOT meeting, the trustees will vote to approve the committee to be rescinded “as required by SEA202,” according to the agenda.
IU has received 10 intellectual diversity complaints in 2025, with seven being resolved and one being “substantiated.”
Chicago Principles resolution
The Chicago Principles are a set of values centered around freedom of expression created by the University of Chicago. Over 100 higher education schools have adopted the principles.
In an undated memo first reported on in November by the IndyStar, President Pamela Whitten asked the University Faculty Council to review the Chicago Principles and make a recommendation on whether the university should adopt the standards.
In a Dec. 1 statement from Indiana University’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, the chapter called on Chancellor David Reingold and Whitten to provide evidence they intend to act in accordance with the Chicago Principles.
The statement went on to say the IU administration “consistently failed to act in accordance with principles of free speech and institutional neutrality,” citing free speech controversies like the cancellation of Palestinian painter Samia Halaby’s exhibition at the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art and the arrest of student and faculty protesters during a pro-Palestinian encampment demonstration in 2024. The statement also referenced the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression ranking IU as the worst public institution in the United States for free speech in its most recent ranking.
At the BOT meeting, the trustees will consider the request to adopt the principles.
President Whitten contract
The Board of Trustees extended Whitten’s contract to 2031 in February 2025 off an 8-1 vote. The board also approved a 28% raise, changing her base salary to $900,000. In a June 12, 2025 meeting, trustees voted 8-1 in favor of awarding Whitten a $225,000 bonus.
The BOT will vote on an amendment to Whitten’s contract that has not yet been made public.
Discrimination, Harassment, Sexual Misconduct and Title IX
IU Vice President and General Counsel Anthony Prather and University Title IX Coordinator Jennifer Kincaid will present a Discrimination, Harassment, Sexual Misconduct and Title IX update to the Audit, Compliance and Governance Committee.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prevents discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance.
As IU’s Title IX Coordinator, Kincaid is informed of all reports of sexual misconduct and is responsible for overseeing the university’s review, investigation and resolution of the reports.
BOT-25 revision
BOT-25 is IU’s Merger, Reorganization, and Elimination of Academic Units and Programs policy. It governs the process in which IU creates, modifies and dissolves academic programs and departments.
The trustees will consider a request to revise the policy at the meeting.
