DeLaney amendment to undo IU trustee power shift fails in House panel

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Staff report

INDIANAPOLIS. Ind. — January 29, 2026

A Democratic lawmaker’s bid to roll back last year’s late-session changes to Indiana University governance was voted down Thursday as House Republicans rejected an amendment that would have restored alumni-elected seats on the IU Board of Trustees and strengthened faculty’s role in university policymaking.

State Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, offered the amendment to House Bill 1408, targeting provisions inserted into the 2025 state budget that eliminated IU’s alumni elections for three trustee seats and gave the governor sole appointing authority over all nine trustees. The amendment also sought to restore IU faculty’s policymaking role to what it had been before lawmakers made faculty governance bodies “purely advisory” and tied tenure protections to new “productivity” requirements.

DeLaney argued the 2025 budget change stripped IU’s alumni—one of the largest alumni networks in the country—of a direct voice in the university’s governance without debate. He also criticized the shift toward mandated productivity reviews for professors, saying the changes treat a university “like a factory,” and urged lawmakers to back IU academics with the same enthusiasm shown for the school’s athletic success.

The trustee and faculty-governance provisions were added near the end of the 2025 budget process and applied specifically to IU. In reporting at the time, lawmakers cited low turnout in alumni trustee elections as part of the rationale for eliminating the vote and consolidating appointment power in the governor’s office.

What Braun did to IU’s Board of Trustees

After the budget change became law, Gov. Mike Braun exercised his new authority on June 2, 2025, removing IU’s three alumni-elected trustees—Vivian Winston, Jill Maurer Burnett and Donna Spears—and installing new appointees. Braun appointed sports broadcaster Sage Steele and attorney James Bopp Jr. to the board and also appointed attorney Brian Eagle; he reappointed W. Quinn Buckner as board chair.

The governance overhaul has also drawn legal and political pushback, including litigation challenging the IU-specific trustee change.

More background:

https://www.axios.com/local/indianapolis/2025/04/24/governor-control-indiana-unviersity-board-of-trustees?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-indianapolis-3cfad3c0-2b4e-11f0-9fe7-276a89037fb8?utm_source=chatgpt.com

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