IU President Pamela Whitten received a $175,500 bonus from the IU Board of Trustees on Friday.
Cathy Langham, who has served on the board since 2022, recommended the bonus, which passed with a vote of six to two, according to the Indianapolis Star.
Whitten’s annual base salary is $650,000, according to her contract, which runs through June 2026. The IU Board of Trustees gave her a $162,500 bonus in August 2023.
The approval was the final item of the meeting’s agenda.
Whitten has led IU since 2021, when she was inaugurated as IU’s 19th and first female president. She was selected despite not being named among the finalists during the search process.
She received a bachelor’s degree in management from Tulane University, a master’s degree in communication from the University of Kentucky and a doctoral degree in communication studies from the University of Kansas.
She served as president at Kennesaw State University from 2018-21. She also served as provost at the University of Georgia, held administrative and teaching roles at Michigan State University and taught at Purdue University.
In April, 948 of 3,246 of eligible IU Bloomington faculty passed a vote of no confidence for Whitten, Provost Rahul Shrivastav and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Carrie Docherty. The motion against Whitten passed with 93.1% of the vote.
Faculty last voted no confidence in an IU president in 2005 for then-president Adam Herbert. He announced in 2006 he would leave at the end of his contract in 2008.
The IU Board of Trustees released a statement in support of Whitten in April.
“At our direction and with our support, President Pamela Whitten is leading at a time in higher education where the status quo is not an option,” the statement read.
Whitten wrote in an email to faculty following the vote she intended to collaborate with faculty despite disagreements.
“Working together, we can achieve even more for this extraordinary institution,” she wrote. “We can uphold the legacy of Herman B Wells and ensure IU thrives as an international academic leader while being a workplace that embraces respectful collaboration.”
Faculty cited several controversies in the weeks leading up to vote, including the suspension of professor Abdulkader Sinno, the cancelation of Palestinian painter Samia Halaby’s exhibition at the Eskenazi Museum of Art and a lack of transparency of funding for the Kinsey Institute.
A pro-Palestinian encampment began April 25, less than one week after the no confidence vote. Indiana State Police, in coordination with the IU Police Department, arrested 57 protesters on April 25 and 27 for violating the university’s policy on temporary structures.
Many protesters were charged with criminal trespass for putting up temporary structures, including tents, without prior approval. An ad hoc committee, which consisted of four administrators, created the policy one day before the start of the encampment.
IU faculty at multiple schools held resolutions calling for Whitten and Shrivastav to resign in May.
CORRECTION: This article was updated with the correct number of trustees who voted for and against the bonus.
