'Complete takeover': Lawmakers exert control over university policy in 11th hour

Yahoo

25-04-2025

Over the course of 36 hours at the tail end of the three-month legislative session, Indiana lawmakers made significant policy changes that fundamentally alter how state universities conduct themselves.
These changes ― among them, giving Gov. Mike Braun sole appointing power over Indiana University's board of trustees, subjecting tenured faculty to "productivity" quotas that could lead to termination, dissolving the decision-making power of faculty governance organizations ― were never the subject of a filed bill or amendment and saw no opportunity for public testimony.
They appeared near the bottom of the 220-page budget bill the evening of April 23, and rose to the forefront of the heated debate that went into the early hours of April 25 when lawmakers approved the bill.
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"It's hard to imagine anything that could possibly be more nontransparent, opaque," said Russ Skiba, professor emeritus at IU. "This is a complete takeover of universities by the governor and state legislature."
Republican Rep. Jeff Thompson of Lizton, the House's budget writer, repeatedly defended the measures as the state exercising its duty to ensure taxdollars are spent wisely and efficiently. Asked multiple times, he said he could not recall who brought forward the ideas.
The governor has previously appointed five of the nine trustees to IU's board, plus a student member. Three alumni board members have been elected by alumni. The new language gives the governor appointing and replacing power over all nine members.
Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, in whose district IU's flagship campus sits, questioned why the university itself hadn't made a public position known on this language. He pointed out that one alumni-elected board member recently questioned the pay raise and contract extension of the university president ― referring to Vivian Winston, who was the sole "no" vote on that measure.
House Speaker Todd Huston said there are so few who participate in the elections for the alumni board members, so the university is "better served" to have the highest state elected official appoint the board.
That doesn't mean alumni wouldn't be one of Braun's choices, Braun told reporters earlier in the day. But he said the "current process" has perhaps not "yielded the proper results" in terms of curruculum, cost and the operation of the university.
"So I want to get a board there that is going to be maybe a little more rounded, that's going to produce better results," he said.
Colleges will be required to adopt a post-tenure review policy that includes certain productivity based quotas: the faculty member's class load, the number of students who they graduate, their time spent instructing and the amount of research they put out.
It's reminiscent of the additions to the tenure review process that lawmakers added last year, in Senate Enrolled Act 202, which dictated that a condition of tenure includes fostering intellectual diversity. Huston said Thursday night's debate reminded him of that bill.
"I think, frankly, Indiana universities from what I can understand are thriving after that passage," he said.
Thompson again said this is about ensuring the efficient use of taxpayer dollars.
Rep. Ed Delaney, D-Indianapolis, posited that this could lead to "diploma creep" ― an inflated number of students attaining diplomas who perhaps aren't ready simply because their professors are incentivized to increase their numbers or meet a quota.
"You can't use Stalinist techniques to run an educational system," he said. "It will lead to distortion."
Skiba said if he were still working as a professor, he would leave the state rather than be subjected to these standards. While these metrics are quantitative, the measure of a professor's success is often more about the quality of the students they graduate, he said.
"Essentially there will be no such thing as tenure anymore," he said. "The review is kind of disturbing, really. ... Any professor could be summarily put on probation and fired for failing to meet some standard."
Another insertion into the budget designates faculty governance organizations as "advisory" only in nature ― contrary to the "shared governance" tradition that many institutions have. Faculty will now also have to post all their syllabi online.
All told, the process behind the policy became just as criticized as the policies themselves.
"Why did members of this body not have the courage to admit to members of this public what they planned to do?" Pierce said. "It is beneath this institution to do such a thing."
Both Huston and Senate President Pro Tempore Rod Bray acknowledged that the legislative process wasn't ideal, and they try to limit how often policies get added to legislation in the final hours of session.
"There a few things that land in a budget that maybe haven't seen much light of today before," Bray said. "We still have the opportunity, of course, to debate them, and we did that this evening. So, certainly not perfect, but you'll have some of those things almost every session."
Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at [e-mail] or follow her on X@kayla_dwyer17.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Lawmakers exert control over university policy in 11th hour