The Indiana University Board of Trustees on Friday approved financing $50 million for renovations at Memorial Stadium.
The board also voted to make a $150 million capital project request to the state for improvements to the stadium.
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jason Dudich presented the resolution. He provided limited detail, citing “critical needs” as the reason for the request.
Board member Jim Bopp asked for more context as to where the money was going.
“This will fund immediate project needs related to deferred maintenance at Memorial Stadium, with the intent for larger investments around deferred maintenance as part of what Vice President [John] DeAngelo will present next,” Dudich said.
D’Angelo did not mention Memorial Stadium during his presentation.
The board also approved the indemnification of several IU faculty members.
Lamar Hylton, Günther Jikeli, Rick Van Kooten, Vicka Bell-Robinson and David Reingold were granted indemnification.
Jikeli and Van Kooten were recently named along with the Board of Trustees as defendants in a lawsuit by IU doctoral candidate Sabina Ali.
The suit alleges that Jikeli, interim director of IU’s Jewish Studies Program, removed Ali from a virtual event in September hosted by the program.
Ali says she was removed for wearing a keffiyeh, a Middle Eastern headdress which bore the words “Free Palestine” and a Palestinian flag in her profile picture.
Jikeli allegedly sent an email to faculty afterward calling the profile picture that of a “Palestinian terrorist.” The suit alleged further that Jikeli vetoed funding to send Ali to a major conference to present her research.
Van Kooten is alleged to have said in an email that he “concurred” with the decision to veto Ali’s funding.
Hylton, Bell-Robinson, and Reingold were named as defendants by Andrew Young, former Director of Bradford Woods, a university-operated outdoor education and residential camp facility.
The lawsuit alleges First Amendment Retaliation, Retaliatory Discharge, and Wrongful Discharge as part of Young’s termination in October.
The board also had a ceremonial swearing in of three new members. Matt Ferguson, Steve Henke, and Mel Raines had already been sworn in officially after their appointment July 1.
Those three served on the compensation committee with Sage Steele and David Hormuth, unanimously approving a $250,000 bonus for IU President Pamela Whitten on July 29.
The board’s next meeting is Sep. 30 at IU Northwest.
