The IU Board of Trustees is set to meet Thursday, Feb. 20 at the Madam Walker Legacy Center in Indianapolis, their first meeting of 2025.
Items on the agenda for the meeting include amendments to President Pamela Whitten’s contract, paid family leave, Title IX updates and IU Launch Accelerator for Biosciences. Here’s each topic, broken down:
Whitten contract amendment
According to the meeting’s agenda, the approval of an amendment for President Whitten’s contract will be discussed.
The Board of Trustees approved a $175,500 bonus to Whitten’s $650,000 base salary in September last year. This came after Whitten was given a $162,500 bonus to her salary in August 2023.
Her current employment agreement states that Whitten could receive a “discretionary performance incentive payment” to her annual base salary from the Board of Trustees but it could not exceed 25% of the salary. Her current contract will run until June 2026.
IU School of Medicine Paid Family Leave for Academic Appointees
Vice President and General Counsel Anthony Prather will begin the presentation about ACA-51, the university’s paid family leave policy for full-time IU School of Medicine academic appointees. Then, a proposed revision to the policy will be discussed, with more to come at the meeting.
This policy is meant to give academic appointees the appropriate time to attend to needs within their families. This includes the birth or adoption of a child and the care of a family member with a “serious health condition.” The policy regarding the appointee’s own sick leave is under the general faculty leave policy ACA-47, “Leaves for Academic Appointees.”
The policy was last updated in August 2020 and was changed to comply with the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.
Discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct and Title IX updates
Prather and Title IX Coordinator and University ADA Coordinator Jennifer Kincaid will present the updates.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Feb. 5 that barred transgender women from women’s sports at educational institutions that received federal funding under his administration’s interpretation of Title IX.
On Feb. 12, the U.S. Department of Education removed Title IX guidance the Biden administration had implemented regarding the equal distribution of NIL money between men’s and women’s sports at universities.
The Department of Education also said in a letter to schools and universities Feb. 4 that it would nullify the Biden administration’s Title IX policies. Trump’s policies provided guidelines for the investigation and settlement of complaints as well as more narrowly defining sexual harassment.
IU Indianapolis – Launch Accelerator for Biosciences
The project approval requested for the Launch Accelerator for Biosciences in Indianapolis in the 16 Tech Innovation District will be considered at the meeting.
According to an IU press release, IU LAB, funded by a $138 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., is expected to open in 2027. The 150,000 square foot facility will focus on “research and innovation” for “diabetes and obesity, neuroscience, rare diseases, cancer, and bone engineering and regenerative medicine.”
The release also states that the facility is funded by the largest grant IU has received “in support of research and development.”
IU LAB aims to provide educational programs for youth and teach them how to enroll in “related degree programs.”
Melanie Walker tribute
A tribute to former Board of Trustees member Melanie Walker, who died unexpectedly in 2021 at 62, will be discussed at the meeting. Walker served as an IU trustee for five years after being appointed in 2016.
She was a businesswoman and was involved in several different boards within IU, including the IU Credit Union and the advisory board of the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. She also served on the board of directors of Susie’s Place Child Advocacy Center, a Bloomington-based organization that helps investigate child abuse and neglect in Indiana.
Then-Gov. Eric Holcomb filled the vacancy with Cynthia Lucchese, a Kelley School of Business alumna.
