IU trustees OK McRobbie's pay, renaming part of Jordan Avenue for Eagleson family
KOKOMO — The Indiana University trustees formally approved renaming a portion of Jordan Avenue and retroactively OK'd a letter authorizing payment in excess of $500,000 to former IU President Michael McRobbie during their meetings Thursday and Friday on the IU Kokomo campus.
The board of trustees approved the letter dated May 13, 2021, which thanked McRobbie for agreeing to delay his post-presidency plans in case a new president could not be hired in time to start in July 2021. While Pamela Whitten was hired and started as president July 1, Trustees Michael Mirro and Pat Shoulders, then the chairman and vice chairman of the board, wrote McRobbie to say that IU would still pay the outgoing president about $580,000 for staying available.
More: Indiana University trustees meet, but recent controversies are left undiscussed
A May 6 memo from Trustee Jim Morris indicated McRobbie might have reminded the board of their agreement. "Michael therefore had a reasonable expectation that the signed contract was valid and he advises us that he therefore delayed his sabbatical opportunities at two institutions by one semester," Morris wrote.
While pledging to make sure McRobbie would be paid, Morris also stated he and Mirro would make it clear to the former president he would be expected to contribute until the end of the year.
In return for payments including $320,000 in base salary, $100,000 in deferred compensation and a bonus of $158,000, McRobbie would be required to "make himself available if and when President Whitten needs his historical knowledge or advice."
University leaders said they think they already had done things the right way — and found the right president in Whitten — but were motivated to add the action item, titled "Approval of McRobbie Letter Agreement dated May 13, 2021" in an effort to address the concerns some have raised.
"I wanted it off the table," trustees chairman Quinn Buckner said.
"That situation was simply this: we were being prudent and protecting the university for some who thought that it might have been a challenge finding the president," Buckner said. "We got the right president. It needed to be publicly approved."
"IU has already approved this matter appropriately," IU spokesperson Chuck Carney said in a statement. "To the extent a question has been raised, the board is simply taking this additional step to affirm its previous decision."
Longtime Maurer School of Law professor Steve Sanders had posted an online article Oct. 6 questioning the process that resulted in McRobbie being paid more than a half-million dollars, as well as the search process that resulted in Whitten's hiring.
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In a new post Thursday on medium.com, Sanders said he thought this week's move to include a vote on a letter from half a year ago may be motivated by a desire on the university's part to not fall afoul of open door laws.
"Perhaps the board ... lost confidence in the legal advice they were getting from their general counsel," Sanders wrote. "Or perhaps they’re hoping avoid an embarrassing ruling from the PAC that they violated Indiana law."
The measure was unanimously approved on Friday in a public session. However, there was no public discussion of the decision to pay McRobbie or its merits.
According to Buckner, trustee conversations behind the scenes made it clear to him that engaging McRobbie as an insurance policy was the prudent thing to do.
Eagleson Avenue approved
Earlier Friday, the trustees issued their approval to rename IU's portion of North Jordan Avenue from near Law Lane to East 17th Street as Eagleson Avenue, in coordination with the city of Bloomington. The new name pays tribute to several generations of an African American family with a history of important ties to IU and Bloomington.
The Bloomington Plan Commission in September approved the same name change for the city's portion of South and North Jordan Avenue from its southern terminus at Davis Street to near Law Lane. The approvals will make the street's new name Eagleson Avenue continuously from Davis Street north to 17th.
The city has targeted an effective date of Feb. 1, 2022, for the name change, while an IU official gave a spring estimate, noting it will depend on how long it takes to work through post office requirements.
According to Thomas Morrison, vice president for capital planning and facilities at IU, the university's collaboration with the city of Bloomington resulted in the choice of the Eagleson family to replace former IU President David Starr Jordan, a eugenics proponent, as the inspiration for the street's name.
"We've been glad to work in collaboration with our partners at the city and participate in the task force, and that we came to a recommendation," Morrison said. "The Eagleson name — there is not a name that is probably more synonymous with the African American history of Bloomington, as well as Indiana University."
The renaming of the North Jordan Avenue extension between 17th Street and Fee Lane is still in the committee process, Morrison said. A previous announcement from IU listed Fuller Lane as the proposed new name, in honor of Mattie Jacobs Fuller, a successful Black businesswoman and suffragist who made the donation that founded Bethel AME Church. She was born into slavery in 1856 and died in 1940.
The trustees also gave their approval for renovation of the second and third floors of Morrison Hall on the Bloomington campus. The floors will house the Irsay Family Research Institute, which will connect "existing health-related social science programs, centers and researchers," according to Morrison's presentation to the trustees.
Contact Patrick McGerr at pmcgerr@heraldt.com, 812-345-7559, or follow @patrickmcgerr on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: IU trustees OK Jordan Avenue change, McRobbie payments
