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Indiana Gov. Mike Braun on Monday announced four appointments to Indiana University’s board of trustees, including conservative attorney Jim Bopp and sportscaster Sage Steele.
The appointments, effective immediately, came shortly after Braun announced the removal of two other members, Vivian Winston and Jill Maurer Burnett, through a single-sentence notice they received earlier Monday. The governor also appointed Brian Eagle, managing partner at Indianapolis law firm Eagle & Fein PC, and retained board chair Quinn Buckner.
“I am confident that these appointees, who are all Indiana University alumni, will serve in the best interest of the university and will help guide IU back in the right direction as a premier flagship university in our state,” Braun said in a written statement.
Bopp is a high-profile attorney whose practice largely focuses on constitutional law and specializes in First Amendment and Second Amendment cases. Bopp, owner of The Bopp Law Firm PC, is based in Terre Haute and has a long legal resume that includes arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court.
He also helped form a conservative think tank known as Hoosiers for Opportunity, Prosperity & Enterprise, which partnered with Braun’s campaign during the gubernatorial race to bolster policy stances and develop framework for prospective matters that the administration and the General Assembly’s Republican supermajority might look to address.
Steele is a former ESPN sports broadcaster who sued the broadcaster in 2022 following her paid suspension for criticism of the company’s coronavirus vaccine policies. The Carmel High School and IU graduate has since settled her case and now hosts The Sage Steele Show on YouTube, which focuses on one-on-one discussions with politicians, businesspeople, celebrities and sports figures.
Both Bopp and Steele were appointed to terms that will run though June 30, 2028.
Eagle’s term will expire June 30, 2027, while Buckner’s will end the same date in 2026.
Winston was elected to the board in 2022 and Burnett was elected in 2024, both by alumni. The governor removed the pair less than a month after a new state law gave him the power to do so.
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In a word….disgusting.
Why can he remove an elected board member? Shady stuff going on. Steele is a liability, in my opinion. Because she was a TV Personality and talks on YouTube does give her the credentials.
Why does he appoint everyone on this State School but not every other State School.
Apparently he thinks there is an issue. Maybe looking to remove Whitten, so places puppets?
“I am confident that these appointees, who are all Indiana University alumni, will serve in the best interest of the university and will help guide IU back in the right direction as a premier flagship university in our state,” Braun said in a written statement.
A reminder that when this legal change was snuck into the budget bill with no public debate a month ago, Braun claimed he wouldn’t remove anyone before their term ended. Meanwhile, one of the fired board members had one more meeting before her term expired.
Also, Quinn Buckner is getting a fourth term when you’re allowed no more than three by law.
It would appear that Governor Braun has not been telling the truth regarding his intentions and for some reason he doesn’t feel that Indiana voters, who he’s supposed to be working for, are worthy of an explanation for why he went back on his word and why laws don’t matter to him.
https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2025/06/02/braun-reverses-course-removes-elected-iu-trustees-for-his-appointees/
I am interested to see if any comments on this matter appear in “Written by Whitten.”
I think Whitten was brought in to start this whole move towards authoritarianism. The IGA has been gunning for IU to attack liberals and free thought. Scary road that Indiana is traveling.
Braun, after the property tax debacle, convinced me he’s a weak, do-nothing idiot. There was no reason to remove current trustees.
+1
What an embarrassment. Par for Braun.
So Braun, not an alum of IU, thinks he knows better than alumni when he removes two members elected by the alumni? Rather arrogant if you ask me.
Braun thinks he’s the smartest person in every room he walks into. I think the con of convincing voters he’s a “man of the people” because he wears a blue shirt has gone to his head, or maybe forcing voters to pay for a helicopter pad because he couldn’t be bothered to move to Indianapolis to represent them for four years
Braun and Whitten are doing permanent damage to IU. It won’t be long before the best professors will be leaving and there will be zero new professors replacing them…
Shameful
Just more authoritarianism from a party that loves it.
Correct!
Really bleak that the Citizens United guy can wield power at our state’s flagship university
Thanks. He’s trying to ensure that IU doesn’t get sucked in by the contrail of Harvard. You have a problem with attorneys and a non woke Carmelite former national ESPN hostess? Maybe her appearances on Fox’s Gutfeld?
Felon47 has only chased away some of the smartest minds in the world from coming to our country to learn. WOKE is not the insult you think it is. Or, do you even understand what it means?
One of the most prestigious schools in the world is now considered something to not try to emulate?
That’s some intense cognitive dissonance
Braun is an utter disgrace. He is a Trump follower and will humiliate the state of Indiana just like Trump has! …Practically punched all of our allies in the face and bickering with SCOTUS for following the CONSTITUTION that he swore an oath to uphold. So sad and disgusting. Our world is going backward. JUNE 14TH – 50501 MOVEMENT #RESIST #8647 See you all at the state house.
Sage Steele??? So fired ESPN talking heads make good university trustees???
Hopefully none of this has any negative impact on any of the major contributors to IU.
Is there any courage at IU?
There was plenty of courage on the part of the trustee election candidates… until the General Assembly and Braun canceled the election. Our leaders don’t want courage at IU
Another slippery move which is a pattern with MAGA. Scholars and top tier researchers may look for another institution to do their work to avoid getting tangled up in a MAGA web. Other countries will take the lead as the US dismantles its institutions. Great work.
The real problem with the current discourse regarding thought diversity at our universities is that the Right makes a bad-faith assumption that current faculty have only been hired because of their leftist views. However, we KNOW that at least in this IU trustee case, the replacements were made ONLY because of their conservative bona fides, not because of any particular competencies that make them strong candidates for the position. I thought the Trump admin outlawed DEI? These are literally diversity, equity, and inclusion hires.
Buckle your seats. it’s going to get bad, really bad. Snipers on the IMU roof were only a prelude. Herman Wells and generations of administrators and faculty and alumni built a great university.
Hope the IU alumni remember this undercover of dark move by the man who is supposedly all about transparency. Maybe it is to save IU from the trustees elected by those millions of dead social security receiving alumni Felon 47 and Musk talk about, but can never prove.