The IU Board of Trustees will meet Thursday and Friday at Keith Busse Steel Dynamics Alumni Center in Fort Wayne, to discuss housing and dining rates, the IU Indianapolis campus, the College and Community Collaboration grant and possible amendments to the expressive activity policy.
The board last met Sept. 12-13 at IU Indianapolis, approving a $175,500 raise for President Pamela Whitten and passing two resolutions surrounding Senate Enrolled Act 202.
Here’s a breakdown of agenda for the board’s final scheduled meeting of 2024:
Housing and dining rates
Interim Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer Jason Dudich and Associate Vice President and University Treasurer Don Lukes will present information about IU’s housing and dining rates for the 2026 fiscal year Thursday.
The cost for standard residence hall rooms at IU Bloomington is $7,954 in 2024-25, with enhanced rooms priced at $10,953. The costs were $7,798 and $10,431 in 2023-24, respectively.
IU Bloomington has three meal plans for freshman students to choose from, which are priced at $4,233, $4,790 and $5,347 in 2024-25. Optional meal plans, intended for upperclassman students, are set at $649 and $3,245.
Indianapolis campus updates
Vice President and General Counsel Anthony Prather will give a presentation Friday about the Indianapolis Health District, a 1,500-acre area on the city’s north side.
The district includes five neighborhoods near IU Health’s new downtown hospital and aims to improve access to housing, education and healthcare. IU Indianapolis was named a lead evaluator for the project earlier this month.
Vice President for Capital Planning and Facilities Thomas Morrison and Whitten will also present a proposed name for the new Indianapolis Athletic Center.
The 137,500-square-foot, $110 million arena was approved in September and will host basketball, volleyball, wrestling and gymnastics events, as well as graduations and banquets. It will also include office space for IU Indianapolis Athletics and USA Track and Field.
College and Community Collaboration grant update
IU received $16 million from Lilly Endowment in August as part of the foundation’s College and Community Collaboration initiative, which included 13 colleges and universities across the state.
Vice President for University Relations Michael Huber and Director for Regional and State Economic Development Anne Bono will provide an update about the university’s use of the grant money on Thursday.
The initiative allows IU to collaborate with the City of Bloomington, and the university announced a portion of the money will go toward the activation and development of Bloomington’s Trades District, a 12-acre technology park in the city’s downtown area.
The district already includes The Mill, a coworking and entrepreneurship space established in 2018, and will add The Forge, a sustainable technology center, in 2025.
Expressive activity policy amendments
Prather will present possible amendments to IU’s expressive activity policy on Friday.
The board approved the policy at its meeting in July, and it took effect in August. The policy has received backlash since its inception, most recently at a protest Friday outside the Monroe County Courthouse.
The policy limits expressive activity to the hours of 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., prohibits camping, and requires approval for signs and temporary structures at least 10 days in advance.
Some IU professors said students who lined up outside Memorial Stadium before ESPN’s College GameDay on Oct. 26 violated the policy. IU said waiting in line is not considered expressive activity.
The ACLU of Indiana filed a lawsuit against the university in August, writing the policy is overly broad and violates the First Amendment.
Executive session
Thursday’s meeting will open with an executive session, which is closed to the public. Under Indiana’s Open Door Law, executive sessions can only be held for specific reasons.
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”
A full agenda for Thursday and Friday’s meeting is available on the IU Board of Trustees’ website.
The next meeting is set for Feb. 20-21, 2025.
