Mental health, pandemic's impact key topics for IU trustees

Aug. 15—Students' mental and physical health were focuses for the Indiana University trustees as they met on the Bloomington campus on the verge of a new school year.

While the uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic continued to loom large in last week's discussions of IU's plans, issues including food insecurity and mental health also were important topics. New IU President Pamela Whitten and other university leaders affirmed these challenges must be faced for students — and therefore the university — to succeed.

In his presentation to the trustees on Friday, IU Chief Health Officer Dr. Aaron Carroll discussed some of the stresses students are facing. He announced he will spearhead a committee to review the mental health needs and services of each IU campus.

Mental health issues are a priority for Whitten, who brought up that concern during a meeting with Carroll in her first days on the job.

"What comes to mind is, 'What do we need to be focusing on to help students succeed?'" Whitten said. "Sometimes that's in the classroom, and we address those issues, and lots of times it's things that aren't necessarily directly in the classroom. But it's still part of our mission to do whatever we can to help students succeed."

Donna Spears, who was reelected to the board of trustees earlier this year, is happy with Carroll's efforts to further integrate IU's mental health services and foresees continued support from her fellow trustees.

"The mental health of our students is one of my earliest concerns, so I'm thrilled about this initiative, because all the efforts are scattered and siloed," Spears said. "Everyone is doing the best they can do with the resources they have. But with Dr. Aaron Carroll in charge of this whole initiative, it's going to bring the resources together. And because it's been brought to the forefront of our attention, we're going to make sure that there's going to be resources to support this because it is critical."

For Kelsey Binion, who was sworn in as student trustee on Thursday, the university's efforts on mental health will be crucial to addressing students' concerns. "As (IUPUI Graduate and Professional Student Government) president last academic year, we did a comprehensive survey and mental health was a really big thing that we focused on," she said.

Quinn Buckner, who became the board of trustees' new chairman during last week's meeting, believes IU leadership can navigate and adapt to coronavirus developments. "With President Whitten, particularly, and when you look at Dr. Aaron Carroll, I'm confident we can be nimble," he said.

According to Buckner, he and his fellow trustees will not base their actions off predictions of how the pandemic will develop. Rather, IU leaders will focus on staying as informed as possible to make decisions that can have important consequences for the safety of IU students faculty and staff.

"We really don't try to project what's going to happen down the road with the federal, state and local (levels)," Buckner said. "We're prepared to pivot if we have to pivot. That was a big part of the discussion we had yesterday to make sure we're prepared. Listen, people's children are here. I know we have staff and frankly I'm concerned about them, but we've got people's children here. Their grandchildren. We don't want to put them at risk."

The school finished the 2021 fiscal year in a good position, according to a report given to the trustees by IU's chief financial officer, John Sejdinaj, and associate vice president for budgeting and planning Sam Adams. While the university faced "significant operating losses in auxiliary operations," the institution protected its finances with a hiring freeze, budget cuts and the use of $106 million in stimulus funds.

The trustees recognized the contributions of departing secretary to the board Debbie Lemon, and thanked her work over the last eight years.

Trustee Melanie Walker, who died unexpectedly two weeks ago, was also recognized for her immense impact and indomitable spirit. Walker was first appointed to the board of trustees in 2016 by then-Gov. Mike Pence. Gov. Eric Holcomb has the responsibility of appointing a new trustee to fill the remainder of Walker's current term, which runs until 2022. IU spokesman Chuck Carney said he does not have a timeline for when such an appointment will occur.

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