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IU Trustees aren’t unanimous on letter supporting Pres. Whitten

By Ethan Sandweiss

Posted June 24, 2024

Henke Hall at the previous Board of Trustees meeting. In an email to WFIU/WTIU News, IU trustee Vivian Winston said she had no role in creating a statement in support of Whitten and felt she could “no longer stay silent.” (Ethan Sandweiss / WFIU-WTIU)

An Indiana University trustee says a letter by the Board backing IU president Pamela Whitten was not unanimous.

The board of trustees released a statement April 16 supporting President Pamela Whitten after an overwhelming faculty vote of no confidence in her leadership.

In an email to WFIU/WTIU News, IU trustee Vivian Winston said she had no role in creating that statement and felt she could “no longer stay silent.”

“I had not seen that statement before it was posted, did not know of its existence, and did not agree with it,” Winston wrote. “Therefore, it could not truly capture a representative sense of the Board’s perspective. The statement ignored the seriousness of the vote and disregarded faculty concerns.”

That April statement was signed on behalf of the entire Board offering “full support to President Whitten.” Winston didn’t comment on its individual authorship, although Board Chair Quinn Buckner released a statement that day to the same effect.

Until now, the Board has given no indication that its members are divided on Whitten’s leadership since the faculty vote of no confidence and Dunn Meadow arrests in April. In fact, the trustees put out a second statement supporting the president after contentious listening sessions in May.

Winston's letter does not specifically criticize the President but rather the letter by the Board and the process leading to its release.

Still, her comments expose a rare rift in the group, whose members usually refrain from public statements.

Trustee Vivian Winston (Courtesy of Indiana University)

Although Winston referred specifically to the Board’s April 16 post, she added that events in Dunn Meadow and the school by school vote for Whitten’s termination made things go “from bad to worse.”

“The conduct of IU leadership received national attention in major news outlets and on multiple social media platforms,” she said. “The university’s reputation is at stake.”

Sean McKinniss, an expert on higher education governance who studies votes of no confidence, said it’s not only extremely unusual for a board to put out a statement on behalf of its members without consulting them, but this kind of division on backing a leader is a sign of trouble.

“It's very rare, which if I'm trying to read tea leaves here tells me something quite rancorous or challenging is going on behind the scenes,” McKiniss said. “The fact that these discussions are happening behind closed doors and that people don't seem to be on the same page, that's alarming.”

Listen: Higher education and IU's no confidence vote

Winston called for the Board to seek equal input from all its members before future statements and decisions.

“The Board should promptly review concerns regarding the demise of faculty engagement/shared governance, general lack of transparency particularly related to rising university administration taxes on academic units, and the culture of fear and toxic work environment,” she added.

Winston makes her statement at a time when Whitten appears to be distancing herself from IU’s flagship campus.

The Board of Trustees announced at its meeting this month that it would create a new chancellor position for the Bloomington campus to take over some of the day-to-day oversight and interactions with faculty. The President pitched the role as an answer to faculty concerns mentioned by Winston.

Winston is one of three trustees elected by IU alumni, alongside Jeremy Morris and Donna Spears.

As a former lecturer at the Kelley School of Business, Winston is the only trustee who served on the Bloomington faculty. Alongside Buckner and student trustee Kyle Seibert, she is one of only three who live in Monroe County.

Read Winston’s full statement here.