BOT Changes

[Home Jersey 16,387]

I don't care about her politics, but I don't see how a sports commentator/personality is qualified to be on the BOT. 

Doesn't really affect me at the end of the day so don't feel too strongly. Just find it funny. 

[JSHoosier 22,240]

The provision that gives the governor full authority over the BOT only applies to IU, it's strictly political. In today's environment they'll be appointed for political reasons. Alumni should have some say over who is on the board, I think it's ridiculous that now only at IU do the alumni not have an elected representative on the board.

[Josh 13,250]

So our powers as alumni are being taken away by a politician so he can appoint his own stooges.  

This is what is wrong with America.

[Stuhoo 89,949]

It's interesting - most state university boards of trustees are political appointees. Indiana was more or less an outlier until now. Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, most schools in Kentucky all are gubernatorial selections.

When you have politicians appointing them, you tend to get more politically charged board members. Doesn't mean they can't be effective. 

[Home Jersey 16,387]

Sage Steele is a DEI board member. 

LoL

[Dave from Dayton 4,073]

  On 6/3/2025 at 10:19 AM, Josh said:

So our powers as alumni are being taken away by a politician so he can appoint his own stooges.  

This is what is wrong with America.

 It may be a symptom of what is wrong with our way of government, presently.

As sentient beings, we are blessed to be able to choose.  But we must live with the result of those choices.

Some people seem to not want to make difficult decisions that require in-depth understanding of issues and critical thinking.  And then we all complain about results or lack thereof.

 Citizens in this democratic republic have all but abdicated their responsibility to provide oversite to the very politicians that are now making those decisions.  We have allowed lobbyists, businesses, the concentration of capital, investments and entertainers to take control.  The minority of billionaires are making those difficult decisions and gaslighting us all.

Lack of education and empathy and social responsibility just about covers it.

 

[AKHoosier 7,764]

  On 6/3/2025 at 1:11 AM, RaceToTheTop said:

You obviously didn’t bother reading what I wrote.  I said more power to her for expressing opinions she believes in (and I agree that was fired from espn for her politics….which is their right as a private company).  But call it what it is….this is a government takeover of a single BOT because they don’t like the politics and they are simply instilling governor yes men and women.

You called her a shill and cited her pushing Trump's agenda as the reason for being appointed to the BoT.

Universities are supposed to be apolitical but let's be real, they have pushed one side's political agenda for decades.

Sage is professional and very passionate about Indiana University. I'm glad she has chosen to take on this role.

[LamarCheeks 22,197]

  On 6/3/2025 at 11:35 AM, Stuhoo said:

It's interesting - most state university boards of trustees are political appointees. Indiana was more or less an outlier until now. Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, most schools in Kentucky all are gubernatorial selections.

When you have politicians appointing them, you tend to get more politically charged board members. Doesn't mean they can't be effective. 

That is the case here in Virginia. The governor appoints the board members to most state colleges. 

[Stuhoo 89,949]

All,

Remember that this board is a politics-free zone. The mods fully understand that this board rule can restrict conversations on infrequent occasions, but the rule also allows people a place to read about IU sports without things degenerating into a political argument (which is nice!). 

This thread is veering into partisan politics; understandably, but it won't be allowed to continue down that path.

Much appreciated.

[Aaron 4,566]

What is fascinating is by reappointing Buckner, Braun broke the law within the very same bill that gave him the power to make these appointments. The same bill limited trustees to three terms and Braun just appointed Buckner for a fourth. 

Will be fascinating how this plays out given he pick and chose what parts of the bill to follow by re-appointing Buckner which is really not how it is supposed to work. Will make the case against him in court with the changes in general (lawsuit is already pending) even more interesting since a court is now likely to scrutinize him and the state on why they are free to follow parts of the bill and not others.

This is the part I am curious to follow. The rest is expected given the politics of the state.  

[Hoosierfan2017 25,083]

Crazy that Buckner scammed IU to enrich his buddy to the tune of $20+ million yet got appointed to another term. We’ll be much better off when he’s off the board. 

[Home Jersey 16,387]

  On 6/3/2025 at 4:20 PM, Hoosierfan2017 said:

Crazy that Buckner scammed IU to enrich his buddy to the tune of $20+ million yet got appointed to another term. We’ll be much better off when he’s off the board. 

He just loves IU so much! 

[RaceToTheTop 31,351]

  On 6/3/2025 at 2:57 PM, AKHoosier said:

You called her a shill and cited her pushing Trump's agenda as the reason for being appointed to the BoT.

Universities are supposed to be apolitical but let's be real, they have pushed one side's political agenda for decades.

Sage is professional and very passionate about Indiana University. I'm glad she has chosen to take on this role.

I would have preferred she didn’t take the position of an elected position — or if she had been elected to her position.  My big problem is going backwards in terms of removing elected positions.

 

[RaceToTheTop 31,351]

  On 6/3/2025 at 3:17 PM, Stuhoo said:

All,

Remember that this board is a politics-free zone. The mods fully understand that this board rule can restrict conversations on infrequent occasions, but the rule also allows people a place to read about IU sports without things degenerating into a political argument (which is nice!). 

This thread is veering into partisan politics; understandably, but it won't be allowed to continue down that path.

Much appreciated.

I would say you are better off locking the thread than expecting what is very obviously a political decision to not involve political discussion. 

[Stuhoo 89,949]

  On 6/3/2025 at 5:22 PM, RaceToTheTop said:

I would say you are better off locking the thread than expecting what is very obviously a political decision to not involve political discussion. 

Nah - no need.

Our board is full of bright, accomplished, and very good looking posters that appreciate the board rules. 

[Home Jersey 16,387]

  On 6/3/2025 at 7:24 PM, Stuhoo said:

Nah - no need.

Our board is full of bright, accomplished, and very good looking posters that appreciate the board rules. 

[Alford Bailey 13,233]

Hope the changes benefit athletics 

[PartyintheVillas 1,083]

  On 6/3/2025 at 7:24 PM, Stuhoo said:

Nah - no need.

Our board is full of bright, accomplished, and very good looking posters that appreciate the board rules. 

Good, it's better to get the lies out front in political threads.

[Pagoda 4,952]

  On 6/3/2025 at 9:34 PM, Alford Bailey said:

Hope the changes benefit athletics 

I can only guess, but I think this will at least be a continuation of the post-McRobbie era increased focus on sports.  Frankly, anything post-McRobbie was going to be an increased focus on sports, that man did not get it.

I've never seen IU spend on athletics like they have the past two years.  Not even remotely close at all.  Last year IU provided an unprecedented $34M loan to the athletic dept, mostly to support football.  This will get paid back as media rights increase and gameday revenue improves, but the key takeaway is prior to this (and excluding covid), IU would never send more than a few million to the AD in any given year.  That has completely changed.

So, the basic logic is this support has occurred under Quinn/Pam/Scott, and since they're continuing, we'll probably continue to see more of this higher level of support for athletics. 

I'm biased because I like sports, but I think it's worth it.  Football is the only sport that can produce a material return on investment for the athletic dept.  Big MBB programs like IU can make some money, but it's not close to football.  If we can become a midpack, or ideally top 1/3 B1G FB team, that will help our athletic dept immensely and help IU sustain all sports.  As of today we're still one of the smaller P2 athletic depts and only football can change that.

Last thing on this athletics support topic -- what Scott has started and in my opinion needs to keep doing is monetizing our improved football team.  Like it or not, almost all the athletic dept revenue comes from fans directly or indirectly.  We need Memorial Stadium sold out every game (should hopefully happen) and the fans have to absorb some ticket price increases, which seem pretty fair given the team they get to watch now.  Other things that would help out our tapped out athletic dept are (i) a stadium sponsor, (ii) enough corporate interest, probably mostly from Indy area firms, to justify building suites, (iii) getting more whale donors engaged (Mark?), and (iv) chatting with Adidas about improving our contract with them (Cig is a material change since we signed!).  Our athletic dept is tapped out with all this spending on coaches, NIL and rev share -- more money would help a lot.  Maybe the BoT can help with some of this, I don't know.

 

 

[Golfman25 6,827]

  On 6/3/2025 at 1:44 AM, Home Jersey said:

I don't care about her politics, but I don't see how a sports commentator/personality is qualified to be on the BOT. 

Doesn't really affect me at the end of the day so don't feel too strongly. Just find it funny. 

Quinn Buckner enters the chat.  :)