A bill putting a non-voting faculty member on universities' boards of trustees, including Ball State's, passed the Indiana House 57-40, but the road to victory is far from over.
The bill's fate now rests within a conference committee. The committee will iron out the discrepancies between the House bill and its Senate counterpart, which makes no mention of any other institutions, other than Indiana University.
Proponents said they are unsure how well SB351, the bill's formal name, will fare in the committee, comprising two senators and two representatives.
"It will be a real challenge," the bill's sponsor in the House, Rep. Mark Kruzan, D-Bloomington, said.
SB351 could have died in the House Tuesday, and Kruzan blames the Ball State administration.
"The Ball State administration showed a complete lack of respect for Ball State faculty by trying to undermine the bill at the last minute," Kruzan said. "It very nearly cost the faculty the voice to be heard."
Initially, Kruzan said, the 51 votes needed for passage were not available, but several representatives ultimately changed their minds.
Though Kruzan said other universities' administrators opposed SB351, none were as active as Ball State. He said Jeff Linder, Ball State's associate vice president of governmental relations, met with multiple representatives Tuesday, using his connections as a former legislator to call in "friendly votes," he said.
"Only Ball State put on a full-court press to bar the faculty from the Board of Trustees," he said. "That surprised me."
Linder did not deny meeting with legislators, but he said he has been trying to dissuade both senators and representatives during the entire session. He also said he was only representing the interests of Ball State by opposing the bill. Also, lobbyists have been hired to support the bill, Linder said.
"It's not like we were working in the back here," he said. "Mark was asking people to vote for it. That's the way it works. Our job is to represent the university and the university's interests."
Most board members were also unavailable for comment, and Trustee Hollis Hughes said he would not comment until he reviewed the bill's details.
Though SB351 expands the board by one member, it does not provide all details about the trustee's selection process. The trustee, the bill reads, must be at least an assistant professor and should be elected by secret ballot. The winner would serve a three-year term beginning July 1.
Joe Losco, the chairman of the Political Science Department, said the American Association of University Professors, of which he is a member, will meet with members of the University Senate to start the process toward electing a trustee.
Losco said, however, it would be premature to take any action until March 15, when the Indiana General Assembly closes for the year.
"The lawmaking process in Indiana is a long one, and it is complicated by the fact that this is a short session," Losco said. "It's impossible to say what will happen out of Congress.
"They are cutting in some strange directions. Anything can happen," he said.
Losco and the AAUP has pushed for faculty trustees for three years, he said. Currently, Senate Chairman John Emert represents the University Senate. He is given time at the meetings to discuss issues in the Senate.
Emert cannot, however, attend executive sessions or speak about issues not on the agenda, privileges that would be extended to a faculty trustee, Losco said. He also said that those universities that have faculty trustees, though a minority, say they appreciate their presence.
"There's simply no ongoing, continuous dialogue with the faculty," he said.
A former president of Purdue University and a trustee at the University of Kentucky both wrote in letters that a faculty member is very helpful. The trustee wrote she could not "imagine serving without them."
Linder, however, said most organizations do not have employees serve on governing boards, and he said technically Governor Frank O'Bannon could appoint a faculty if he wanted to.
A student currently serves on the board, but Linder said the situation was different for faculty, because their salary, working conditions was connected to the board's decisions.
"It's important for the trustees to represent the interests of the entire state of Indiana, and not just the employees," he said.
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