The Indiana University Board of Trustees gathered Friday in the Grand Casino Ballroom inside the Madam Walker Legacy Center in Indianapolis for its first meeting of 2026.
The board adopted the Chicago Principles on Freedom of Expression, approved a raise for IU President Pamela Whitten’s contract and more during the almost 4-hour-long meeting.
Trustee W. Quinn Buckner attended the meeting virtually. The eight other members of the board and President Whitten appeared in person.
Chicago Principles on Freedom of Expression
The board unanimously voted to approve the Chicago Principles, a set of free speech guidelines. IU is now the 117th university to adopt these principles for free speech.
“Students are meant to be stretched intellectually, ethically and personally, and that simply cannot happen if disagreement is treated as something to be avoided,” Trustee Sage Steele said at the meeting. “By adopting the Chicago Principles today, Indiana University is making it clear that free expression and academic freedom are our essential values and conditions for learning, discovery and leadership.”
The decision on the Chicago Principles was slated to be one of the last items on the agenda under new business, but it was the first thing to be decided on after Whitten introduced it during her remarks before turning the microphone back to David Hormuth, the board’s chair, who introduced it for a vote.
BOT-25 Revisions
BOT-25 is IU’s Creation, Reorganization, Elimination and Merger of Academic Units and Programs policy which determines the process of creating, modifying and dissolving academic programs and departments.
A previous concern with the policy was lack of protections for faculty, especially those with tenure.
IU Indianapolis Chancellor Latha Ramchand presented revisions regarding the policy, focusing on protection for tenured faculty and making the approval process within the bill more digestible for public knowledge.
“We ask, respectfully, that you all approve this policy, the revisions, as I said, are more in the nature of providing clarity over the process for approval,” she said.
The board unanimously approved the revisions.
IU Inc.
IU Vice President for Research Russell J. Mumper, President and CEO of the Indiana University Launch Accelerator for Biosciences David Rosenberg and IU Vice President and General Counsel Anthony Prather presented “IU Inc.,” a nonprofit organization created at the request of the trustees’ finance and facilities committee.
IU Inc. is meant to serve as a streamlined way for IU to receive research partners. The developers said it would be an easier way for external partners to develop partnerships.
When it is formally founded, IU Launch Accelerator for Biosciences, IU Applied Research Center and IU Realty — the currently existing IU research partnership programs — will move under the IU Inc. organization. Eventually, new organizations will likely develop under the IU Inc. helm.
The board unanimously approved the creation of the university-affiliated nonprofit organization.
Request to rescind IU Diversity Committee authorization
The board unanimously approved to rescind IU Diversity Committee authorization, an organization originally created under Senate Enrolled Act 202.
The act required universities to approve and authorize the creation of diversity committees at each campus in compliance with 2024 Indiana code.
It required those diversity committees to review and recommend faculty employment policies, review faculty and administrative personnel intellectual diversity complaints and issue annual reports. The code was repealed last year.
“There's now a need, from my perspective, to rescind the committee authorization,” Prather said in the meeting.
President Whitten contract amendment
The last item the board voted on before adjourning the meeting was amendments to Whitten’s contract.
Buckner requested the board give Whitten a $100,000 raise, making her annual salary $1 million. He also recommended the board maintain her existing bonus structure and increase deferred compensation to $700,000.
“We have the second longest tenured president in the Big Ten,” Hormuth said.
“There are several openings in the Big Ten for presidents. We've seen what's happened in higher education with this position. It's a highly valued position, incredible executive process and skills required.”
The board unanimously approved the contract amendment.
Whitten was last given a raise in July 2025 during a board meeting. The motion passed 8-1, with the only dissenting vote coming from then-student trustee Kyle Siebert.
The Board of Trustees are scheduled to meet next June 11 and 12 on the IU Bloomington campus.
