Indiana University’s Sample Gates are pictured in Bloomington on Monday, April 18, 2022. Photo by Madelyn Hanes, Indiana Capital Chronicle.

By Leslie Bonilla Muñiz and Whitney Downard
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Gov. Mike Braun on Tuesday, June 3 defended his sudden removal of alumni-elected Indiana University trustees and his contentious picks to replace them.

Braun previously cited nearing ends of terms for Vivian Winston, Donna Spears and Jill Maurer Burnett as why he wouldn’t oust them early. A month later, he turned that logic on its head.

“It’s so close to that being the case anyway,” he said of the three, who are all now listed as “former” trustees.

“You can’t believe the number of individuals that came forward wanting to be considered in those slots,” Braun continued in mid-morning comments to reporters. “So, with that kind of enthusiasm and the fact that it really didn’t make a lot of difference one way or the other, (I) did make the decision to go ahead and do it, so that we don’t even delay the few weeks that would be involved.”

But only Winston’s term was due to end this year, according to an archived “about” webpage. Spears was supposed to serve until 2026, and Maurer Burnett had until 2027.

Lawmakers gave Braun control over IU’s three alumni-appointed trustee spots via language slipped last-minute — and without opportunity for public comment — into the two-year budget. The body’s six other members were already gubernatorial appointees.

The oversight entity sets tuition rates, controls campus projects and approves budgets. At other public Hoosier institutions, alumni can offer direct or indirect input into trustee picks.

Pushback To New Appointees

Braun tapped prominent and polarizing attorney Jim Bopp as trustee. He’s best known for waging legal battles to weaken campaign finance laws and restrict abortion access.

Gov. Mike Braun delivers remarks while celebrating his first 100 days in office on Wednesday, April 30. Photo by Leslie Bonilla Muñiz, Indiana Capital Chronicle.

“You want somebody that’s going to really be respectful of the First Amendment, and it’s making it clear that it (IU) ought to be a place where all views are listened to,” Braun said. Bopp’s term extends through June 2028.

Braun’s other replacements are Sage Steele, a sports anchor known for controversial comments on race and vaccines whose term also ends June 2028, and Indianapolis estate attorney Brian Eagle, whose term ends June 2026.

IU graduate and House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta denounced the flip-flop, predicting Bopp and Steele would harm academic freedom in Indiana.

“Not fulfilling a promise you previously made is par for the course with this administration — first property tax relief, now IU trustee appointments. Promises made, promises broken,” GiaQuinta, D-Fort Wayne, said in a Tuesday statement.

“It’s not hard to imagine that our two new trustees who are well known for their successful work overturning a woman’s right to choose and work in the conservative media circuit, respectively, will have an agenda to limit the research questions that researchers and professors are allowed to pose,” he continued.

Braun also reappointed W. Quinn Buckner, the board’s current chair, to a fourth term lasting one year — despite a new three-term limit in Indiana Code.

“It clearly said it’s not retroactive,” Braun told reporters. He said Buckner is “aligned with” IU President Pamela Whitten and wants to do some needed “sprucing up.”

Who Left The Board?

The profiles of the three members elected by alumni — Winston, Burnett and Spears — disappeared from IU’s Board of Trustees site and now appear as former members on another site.

Indiana Public Media confirmed the departure of Winston and Burnett, who each received one-sentence letters from Braun dated for May 31. Additionally, the story noted that Winston, a frequent critic of Whitten, had just one more board meeting before her term ended.

An IU alum planning to run for an open position filed a lawsuit last month, challenging the law for singling out only one public institution. The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana is representing the plaintiff.

Jim Bopp, right, chats with then-U.S. Sen. Mike Braun before a Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024 gubernatorial forum in Carmel. Photo by Whitney Downard, Indiana Capital Chronicle.

At a press conference marking his first 100 days in office, a reporter directly asked if Braun would prematurely end the terms of the three members.

“No, I haven’t thought about anything other than … you can’t imagine the number of people that are interested in being a trustee at IU,” Braun said.

Cut-Induced Layoffs

Braun said he wants Indiana’s public educational institutions to offer both “good value and degrees that have a market here in the state,” complimenting Purdue University’s longstanding tuition freeze.

Other schools are enacting freezes on recommendation from Braun and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. They’re also smarting from 5% cuts in appropriations as the state struggles to cope with a dismal revenue forecast.

That, along with the prospect of the State Budget Agency withholding another 5% of allocated funds, has prompted Ivy Tech Community College to lay off more than 200 employees across the state.

The system usually enjoys favor among even the most anti-higher education Hoosier leaders and lawmakers for its low tuition and focus on workforce development.

But, Braun said, Ivy Tech “is part of the rest of public schools that we’re going to ask to find efficiencies. Once we get through this budget forecast … I’ll put the resources back where we’re getting the best results.”