The IU Board of Trustees will meet for the fourth time this year to discuss President Pamela Whitten’s salary, ongoing litigation and enrollment data Thursday and Friday at Madam Walker Legacy Center on the IU Indianapolis campus.
The board last met July 29 for a special meeting, when they approved a new university-wide expressive activity policy. Here’s what you need to know about the agenda for the upcoming meeting:
Whitten’s salary
The final item of the meeting’s agenda includes an approval request for Whitten’s salary.
The board awarded Whitten a $162,500 bonus August 2023, a 25% increase of her $650,000 base salary. The bonus was the maximum amount allowed by her contract, which runs through June 2026.
Executive sessions
Thursday’s meeting will begin with two executive sessions, which are closed to the public. Under Indiana’s Open Door Law, executive sessions can only be held for specific reasons.
The first session, which will include Whitten and the Board of Trustees, will discuss four items:
- “Initiation of litigation or litigation that is either pending or has been threatened specifically in writing”
- “Discussion of the assessment, design, and implementation of school safety and security measures, plans, and systems”
- “Receive information about and interview prospective employees”
- “Discussion of records classified as confidential by state or federal statute.”
The second discussion, exclusive to the board, will “discuss a job performance evaluation of individual employees.”
First full meeting for Jill Maurer Burnett
The board swore in Jill Maurer Burnett at its July meeting, but Thursday and Friday’s meeting will mark her first full meeting as a trustee.
Burnett won the board’s alumni-elected position June 29 and began her three-year term July 1. She received 3,830 votes, which represented 19.05% of the 20,101 total votes from IU alumni.
The election ran from June 1-28 and featured 11 candidates.
Burnett graduated from IU with a bachelor’s degree in business in 1997 and is the daughter of Michael Maurer, the namesake of IU Maurer School of Law.
IU and the Olympics
According to the meeting’s agenda, Mattie White, deputy director of athletics and senior woman administrator, will present about the university’s representation at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games on Thursday.
Twenty Hoosiers represented nine countries in the Games, which was the university’s second-largest group of Olympians all-time.
Former IU swimmer Blake Pieroni earned a silver medal for Team USA in the men’s 4x200-meter freestyle relay, while rising senior Anna Peplowski captured a silver medal in the women’s event for Team USA.
Former IU swimmer Lilly King returned home with a gold medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay for Team USA in her final Olympic event. She competed in three Olympics, tallying six medals.
IU raised its total medal count to 127 following the Games, with 62 gold, 27 silver and 38 bronze.
Fall enrollment report
Interim Vice President for Regional Campuses and Online Education Ken Iwama, IU-Bloomington Provost Rahul Shrivastav, Executive Vice President for University Clinical Affairs Jay Hess and IU Indianapolis Chancellor Latha Ramchand will present on IU’s fall enrollment reports Thursday.
According to a press release, IU welcomed 24,489 new undergraduate and graduate students this fall across its campuses. Nearly 90,000 total students are enrolled at IU.
IU Bloomington set a record this fall with 48,424 total students enrolled. The freshman class is 9,600 strong, with 5,231 students from Indiana. It is the campus’ second-largest freshman class in its history.
IU Indianapolis welcomed 2,438 freshman students in its first year, increasing its total number of students to 20,568. IUPUI officially split into IU Indianapolis and Purdue University Indianapolis on July 1.
Enrollment also increased at IU’s five regional campuses across the state, with a final tally of 17,532 students. IU’s two regional centers, IU Fort Wayne and IU Columbus, also saw enrollment increases.
IU Online has a record 9,362 students enrolled, a 10% increase from last year.
A full agenda for Thursday and Friday’s meeting is available on the IU Board of Trustees’ website. The next IU Board of Trustees meeting is slated for Nov. 14-15.
