IU faculty: Budget bill could undercut council’s power
The "advisory only" language will do serious damage to IU
This originally appeared in the Bloomington Herald-Times on June 17th
A few pages down in the state budget law, HB 1001, that removed alumni-elected trustees and allowed Gov. Mike Braun to remove them, one line may further widen the gap between IU administration and faculty.
The budget, in that line, defines the actions of any faculty governance organization as “advisory only.” At Indiana University, those governing organizations include the Bloomington Faculty Council, which represents the Bloomington campus, and the University Faculty Council, which represents all campuses.
Does the definition change anything for faculty councils?
On paper, decisions from the BFC and UFC have been “advisory only” throughout IU's history; all final authority lays in the hands of the board of trustees. But Indiana University and the Bloomington campus have long granted the UFC and BFC legislative and consultative authority over issues like tenure and promotion, grievance procedures and the formation of curriculum through their constitutions.
Still, to faculty at IU, the decision of state lawmakers to undermine the binding power of faculty governance organizations is raising eyebrows.
“They will use this law as leverage to further undercut the authority and influence of the BFC and UFC,” IU law professor Steve Sanders said in a text message.
That was made standard in 1966 by organizations representing faculty, universities and governing boards. The shared statement helped set the precedent that a university administration would only step in regarding faculty governance decisions under exceptional circumstances.
Issues regarding shared governance
The shared governance that Sanders and other faculty speak of, in their minds, has eroded in recent years, especially under IU President Pamela Whitten’s administration. That attitude erupted in spring 2023, as members of the IU Bloomington faculty overwhelmingly voted “no confidence” in Whitten, Provost Rahul Shrivastav and Carrie Docherty, vice provost for faculty and academic affairs.
Those attitudes didn't erupt out of nowhere. Faculty say two administrative actions — that of professor Abdulkader Sinno and professor Xiaofeng Wang — violated university policy. The university faculty board of review found Docherty had violated policy in suspending Sinno, who Docherty alleged misrepresented an event for the Palestine Solidarity Committee as academic. Other faculty groups allege the university, which terminated Wang the same day the FBI searched two of his homes for unknown reasons, didn't follow due process in doing so.
Still, IU maintains it will continue to seek BFC and UFC input on its governing of the university.
“Indiana University values faculty input and remains committed to working with faculty councils and other groups to understand their perspective as an important consideration in decision-making,” IU spokesperson Mark Bode said in a statement.
Many faculty don't trust the system will stay the same. Alex Tanford, an IU law professor emeritus, said the university would interpret the line as justification to "ignore the faculty's academic policies."
Shared governance means a lot to many people. But faculty time and time again brought up the former IU President Herman B Wells, who retired IU professor and former BFC president Robert Eno said took care of faculty and took their views into account in his leadership. That, Eno said, brought the university to the forefront of humanities in the country.
“It took about 75 years to build, and it is disintegrating at an amazingly alarming rate,” Eno said.
'A show of disrespect to faculty'
What’s interesting, Eno said, is why the line was added into the state budget in the first place. He sees two possible explanations. The first is that legislators didn’t know that faculty governance was already designated advisory in state law. In that case, the lawmakers would be seeking to constrict faculty power.
The second scenario in Eno’s mind is that they understood it was.
“Then it would all have been performative as a show of disrespect to faculty, or a demonstration to voters that they approved the voters disrespect the faculty,” he said.
Heather Akou will be the Bloomington Faculty Council’s next president. And she’s worried that, while not changing much in definitions, the budget bill language will allow the university’s administration to ignore faculty council decisions.
The BFC makes tons of decisions about hiring, firing, promotion, scheduling and more. Akou said that’s where those decisions belong, with the faculty in research and teaching. But she said she’s seen increased centralization of decision-making, to the point where various school’s deans won’t have the final say they used to.
And at the core is the uncertainty. With three new trustees and a new chancellor, so much is up in the air.
“I don't want to project worst case scenarios, because I'd like to believe that our legislators actually do care about Indiana and want this to be a place people want to live and can thrive,” Akou said. “I mean, I really genuinely want that to happen. I think they're going about it in a way that actually is not going to help achieve those goals, but I do sincerely hope that they have that in mind.”