The IU Board of Trustees released an agenda for its Thursday meeting, including an item for “approval of a contract amendment for President Whitten.” But it doesn’t say what that proposed change is.
The university wouldn’t explain.
The trustees released the agenda Monday morning, more than 48 hours before the meeting as required by state law.
An IU spokesperson said to ask the Board of Trustees. Despite multiple voicemails and emails with the secretary, assistant secretary and executive assistant of the board, there was no response within 24 hours.
Officially, the trustees say they use space at Bryan Hall in Bloomington. However, a security guard at the reception desk said the trustees no longer maintain an office there and that she was not at liberty to share the new location.
Before asking WFIU/WTIU News to leave — entry to Bryan Hall for the past few years has been by appointment only — she added that she did not know the location of the board secretary’s office.
One possible explanation is that the trustees plan to extend Whitten’s contract. Her employment began July 2021, and her current contract ends in June 2026.
Whitten is a controversial president, with multiple no-confidence votes from faculty on IU campuses. But most of the board has stuck with Whitten, with a few exceptions. Trustees approved her $175,000 bonus in 2024.
The president’s contract requires her to have a comprehensive performance review in her fifth year, including a broad range of constituent opinions “both inside and outside the university.” If trustees were to extend her employment now, it would be before such a review could occur.
Trustees also extended former President Michael McRobbie's contract in 2009 just two-and-a-half years into his first term.
The trustees meet Thursday at IU Indianapolis.
This story was expanded to include more information about President Whitten's contract.
