'Complete takeover': Lawmakers exert control over Indiana University policy in 11th hour

[Nevilledog]

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/25/indiana-lawmakers-indiana-university-control-mike-braun/83265418007/

Over the course of 36 hours at the tail end of the three-month legislative session, Indiana lawmakers made significant policy changes that fundamentally alter how state universities conduct themselves.

These changes ― among them, giving Gov. Mike Braun sole appointing power over Indiana University's board of trustees, subjecting tenured faculty to "productivity" quotas that could lead to termination, dissolving the decision-making power of faculty governance organizations ― were never the subject of a filed bill or amendment and saw no opportunity for public testimony.

They appeared near the bottom of the 220-page budget bill the evening of April 23, and rose to the forefront of the heated debate that went into the early hours of April 25 when lawmakers approved the bill.

"It’s hard to imagine anything that could possibly be more nontransparent, opaque," said Russ Skiba, professor emeritus at IU. "This is a complete takeover of universities by the governor and state legislature."

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