Trustees meeting shortened to one day

The Board of Trustees meeting originally scheduled for April 11 and 12 in Bloomington has been shortened to one day, according to an online agenda released on the trustees’ website.

The bi-monthly committee and business meeting will now take place throughout the day starting at 8:30 a.m. next Thursday. 

Associate Vice President of Communications Mark Land said the change was because the agenda is small and does not require two days of meetings.

“The board is comprised of a number of committees, and a couple of them have no activity at this time,” Land said. “It’s a simple matter. Why make everyone stay the extra night if we can do it in one day and be finished.”

Only three committees, Finance and Audit, Facilities and Academic Affairs and University Policies, will meet.

Land said the board will not hear tuition recommendations, just one of the topics originally scheduled for the April meeting that have now been omitted.

A strike was planned for both April 11 and 12 to coincide with the trustees’ meetings. Tucker Lang, an undergraduate representative from IU on Strike, the group organizing the action, said the strike will still take place both days.

Land affirmed the date change had nothing to do with the strike plans.

“It was simply a matter that there wasn’t enough on the agenda to spread it over two days,” Land said. “We’ll still accommodate people who want to listen to the pre-meeting. We have to post everything anyway we so we weren’t trying to sneak anything by anyone.”

The meeting, open to the public except for an executive session, will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the President’s room in Franklin Hall.

The Board of Trustees Business meeting will begin at 3:15 p.m., where IU President Michael McRobbie will address the trustees.

— Joe Weber