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BLOOMINGTON'S '50501' PROTEST
MCCSC to reduce staff By Jack Forrest
jhforres@iu.edu | @byjackforrest
The Monroe County Community School Corporation will have to make staffing cuts in response to an enrolled act reducing the school’s potential revenue by over $17 million in the next three years, the district's Superintendent Markay Winston said at an MCCSC trustees meeting April 22. According to Senate Enrolled Act 1’s fiscal analysis, MCCSC will see a loss of nearly $3.5 million in revenue next year compared to current law. “The projected reduction in state funding over the next three years will impact our ability to maintain current support services and staffing levels throughout the organization,” Winston said at the meeting. Winston said the district has already put a pause on filling positions left empty by retirements or resignations, though decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis. It's also exploring other ways to reduce expenses in the coming months. The district is discussing how to approach the changes with the Monroe County Education Association and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees unions and building administrators, she said. “I cannot eliminate the impact, but we will make our best effort to minimize the impact,” Winston said. “To be sure, the loss of this amount of revenue will require us to rethink how we do school.” SEA 1, which deals with property taxes, was controversial on both sides of the aisle. It underwent several substantial amendments during the Indiana legislative session. The original bill would have put a cap on property tax bill increases and increased the homestead standard reduction for property owners. According to a fiscal analysis, Monroe County would’ve lost over $25 million in possible tax revenue in the first year alone, with an over $10 million loss to MCCSC. The final enrolled act isn’t as dramatic of a change. Homeowners will be able to receive a property tax discount of 10%, up to $300. According to the Indianapolis Star, it allows cities and towns to establish local income tax rates but limits how much they can raise their property taxes. Public schools will also have to share revenue from tax levies with eligible charter schools. Monroe County will receive nearly $10 million less in revenue in the first year compared to current law, according to the state’s fiscal analysis. The county will collect over $37 million less over three years. Monroe County Councilors previously sounded the alarm about SEA 1’s effects on the county, approving a resolution opposing the then-bill in February. In March, they voted to pause consideration of new county jobs, reclassifications and description changes that increase county costs anticipating changes due to SEA 1 and other legislation. “Senators, house members, you could cut it in half, and then cut that into quarters, and you’re still going to be killing us,” Councilor Trent Deckard said Jan. 28 about the original bill. “That’s how bad it is.” MCCSC schools had an elearning day April 14 to allow teachers to participate in the Indiana State Teacher’s Association Day of Action rally at the Statehouse against the bill. Gov. Mike Braun signed the final bill into law April 15. School corporations statewide will receive over $190 million less revenue next year than they would under current law, the bill’s fiscal analysis states. That’s over $744 million across three years.
LILY WELCH | IDS
The Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse is pictured March 25, 2025, in Bloomington. The Associate Director of Finance, Cody Whiteman, said Indiana Athletics has invested $2,253,225.50 into updating the track and field and cross country facilities in the past five years.
Broken pipes, couch stains and cockroaches Budget choices plague IU track and field's facilities, leave locker rooms in disrepair
By Jasmine Wright wrightjv@iu.edu
Editor’s note: The Indiana Daily Student spoke to five current and former track and field athletes for this story. Two of the athletes who are currently still on the team have been granted anonymity. When IU track and field athletes go to their designated locker rooms before and after team practices, they double-check their belongings in unlocked lockers. They are often greeted by cockroaches in bathroom stalls, a thick film of built-up residue in the shower and worn couches with years of stains on them. A year ago, the IU track and field team claimed two event titles, broke three school records and achieved 15 podium finishes across men's and women's events during the Big Ten Championships. During the Indiana Early Bird Meet in December, the Hoosiers won 11 events and achieved 42 personal bests. Every day, the accomplished Big Ten student athletes make a conscious choice to overlook the dirty place they are sent to get
clean. Allie Latta, an IU junior and ex-runner, quit early in summer 2024 due to multiple running-related injuries. She remembered the two couches in the back of the women’s locker room faded with years of sweat stains and spilled liquids. The team now brings their own chairs to sit on. Latta said her teammates would put down an extra shirt before sitting on the couches. Latta’s roommate, who is currently on the team, even brought in a bean bag chair from home to help give the athletes a clean place to sit before practice.
"It's probably been about 15 years since we last renovated the locker rooms." Jeremy Gray, IU senior associate athletic director for strategic communications
IU Senior Associate Athletic Director for Strategic Communications, Jeremy Gray, said the head coaches can get together and annually request where budget expenses go for their team. He said the track and field
coaches' latest request was to update the video boards for the outdoor and indoor track facilities. The Indiana Athletics Associate Director of Finance, Cody Whiteman, said that it totaled $608,000. “That was a major, major ask,” Gray said, “and so the question is, should he have spent that money on couches or on video boards?” The IDS made multiple attempts to contact the IU track and field coaches. The IDS emailed the track Director of Operations Warren Bye once, Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Edward Beathea once and head coach Eric Heins twice. The IDS also called Bye’s staff directory number twice, and texted assistant coach Andrew Poore’s and Beathea’s personal numbers. The only response the IDS received was from Beathea, who declined an interview and referred the IDS to Gray. Whiteman said Indiana Athletics has invested $2,253,225.50 into updating the track and field and cross country facilities in the past five years. This included resurfacing the indoor and outdoor tracks and turf, installing a new cross country track on the golf course, up-
dating the Billy Hayes Track Press Box and setting up new video boards. “It’s probably been about 15 years since we last renovated the locker rooms,” Gray said, when asked specifically about updates to the track and field locker rooms.
"I mean, are we just not as important as any of the other sports?" Allie Latta, IU junior
Indiana Athletics has made significant updates to other sports locker room facilities over the past five years. The women’s basketball team center in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall underwent renovations in 2022, featuring a modernized locker room, team lounge and training areas. The IU Board of Trustees approved a $7 million project that was completed in 2020 to restore the men’s and women’s soccer team facilities. At IU, Gray said that while there is a budget for all of the sports, the amount each sport gets can vary. Only three sports produce revenue at IU — the men’s
and women’s basketball teams, and football — while the rest operate at a loss and have limited budgets. While some athletes like Latta wonder why furniture updates in the locker room haven’t been done yet, Gray said updating simple things such as the couch can prove to be extraordinarily costprohibitive. Michele Bucklin, IU’s interior designer, was hesitant to give costs, since it can vary depending on size, material and amount, but Gray said a desk by itself can cost $2,000. Bucklin said that the furniture that goes into IU student athlete facilities is standard, but can only be bought from IU Capital Planning and Facilities. This is because the furniture has to meet safety codes and health codes for student athletic and public spaces. Her main priority when choosing furniture is that it is as fiscally beneficial as possible, while also being durable and aesthetically pleasing. However, for the track and field team, concerns go far beyond aging furniture. In the middle of summer 2024, a pipe broke in the women’s locker room. SEE TRACK, PAGE 12
‘I don’t see much change’ Trustee Vivian Winston on IU’s administration
By Chloe Oden
chloden@iu.edu | @chloeoden0
Vivian Winston prides herself on being someone who listens. So, when Indiana University President Pamela Whitten’s contract extension was brought up at the Feb. 20 Board of Trustees meeting, Winston dissented. She was the only dissenting vote. She heard about the vote for the renewal the morning of the meeting and said she wouldn’t have voted for a contract extension so quickly for any president. “A decision that was that important, I should have had more notice,” she said. “That's the reason for trustees, and that's the reason we're there. When you get right down to it, the president reports to us. We don’t get involved. That’s not our job. Our job is just to really hire and fire the president.” Winston is one of three alumni-elected trustees on the Indiana University Board of Trustees, the head of the university. The board has the power to appoint the president, hire faculty, approve promotion and tenure, determine codes of conduct and disciplinary measures for students, faculty and staff, regulate tuition and fees, determine curricula, invest funds and award financial aid, among other responsibilities. Across IU’s nine campuses, the trustees oversee more than 88,000 students and over 21,000 faculty and staff.
Below the trustees sits the university president. “A contract extension is something that should be done over a period of time,” Winston said. “I think the minimum amount of time should be six months.” Winston said she thought there should have been an independent review before the trustees voted to reappoint her until 2031. The university was supposed to seek an independent review during the fifth year of Whitten’s term in 2026, according to her contract. Along with an independent review, Winston said she thought the board should have gathered input from students, faculty, staff and alumni before approving the extension. The Board of Trustees did not respond to a request for comment. ‘We have to deal with it if a faculty votes no confidence’ Winston said shared governance is on the decline at IU. “It leaves people feeling they don’t have a voice,” Winston said. “I think the university thrives when faculty feel like they have a voice.” Shared governance is the “shared responsibility for operating and governing the university that faculty and administrators share,” according to the Bloomington Faculty Council. The BFC’s description also states shared governance depends on mutual
accountability, collaboration, transparency and a relationship in which the faculty and administration are “answerable” to each other. In April 2024, 93.1% of 948 faculty members voted “no confidence” in Whitten. Following the vote, the Board of Trustees issued a statement in support of Whitten, but it has since been removed from the trustees' website. Winston spoke out against the statement in June 2024. In a letter to Indiana Public Media, she wrote she was not aware of it before its publication and would not have supported it. She said the statement sent a message that the trustees were “ignoring” the faculty and did not want Whitten or the administration to do things differently. “We have to deal with it if a faculty votes no confidence,” Winston said. “You can't ignore that. I thought ‘We at least need to talk to the faculty, get to the bottom of it. What could be done better?’” Winston’s husband Wayne Winston, a professor emeritus of operations and decision technologies at IU, said faculty are told at BFC meetings they can email the Board of Trustees if they have questions — but he alleges the board either doesn’t get the emails, or doesn’t reply to them. “There's no communication,” Wayne Winston said. “We need communication between the board and the faculty, staff and students.
FILE PHOTO | IDS
IU Board of Trustees member Vivian Winston listens to fellow trustee Donna Spears during a meeting July 29, 2024, in the Showalter House in Bloomington. Winston said there should have been an independent review of Whitten’s contract before the trustees voted to reappoint her until 2031.
There's a culture of fear.” Last May, Whitten held closed door listening sessions with the College of Arts and Sciences. In these meetings, faculty expressed their discontent. Whitten and the attending faculty debated the justifiability for “police action” in Dunn Meadow and other grievances, according to a summary of the sessions written by IU Professor P. David Polly in the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences department and IU Professor in the English department Purnima Bose. The summary said Whitten “refused” to answer several questions from faculty. It also said she didn’t express remorse for the injuries sustained by students and faculty during the police response to the pro-Palestinian encampment last spring. It described some
attendees who said it was too late for listening sessions and agreements to change. The administration, it said, should have tried to rebuild trust long ago. Wayne Winston said he believes the administration has no desire to hear about faculty opinion. “The way things are being run here, it’s just morally reprehensible,” Wayne said. Wayne Winston also referenced Xiaofeng Wang, a tenured IU professor fired in March on the same day two of his homes were inspected by the FBI. The termination notice sent to Wang said it was Provost Rahul Shrivastav’s understanding that Wang had accepted a position at a university in Singapore and that Wang would not be eligible for rehire at IU. SEE TRUSTEE, PAGE 4