A Monroe County judge has upheld the law that shifted full control of Indiana University’s Board of Trustees appointments to Gov. Mike Braun, ruling Friday that House Enrolled Act 1001 is constitutional.
The decision lands less than two weeks after Braun named his three newest picks for the board. It also shuts down a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana in May 2025, with former trustee candidate and IU alumnus Justin Vasel named as the plaintiff.
HEA 1001 took effect last May and ended the three alumni-elected seats on the board, a setup that had been in place for more than a century. Since then, all nine trustees have been selected by Braun.
The ACLU filed the case the day after Braun signed the bill, arguing in Monroe Circuit Court that the law violated the Indiana Constitution because it singled out Indiana University. The complaint said the change amounted to special legislation, pointing out that it applied only to IU and not to the state’s other four-year universities.
“Given that there is nothing unique about Indiana University that justifies application of the new statutory scheme to it and not to Indiana’s other four-year universities, the statute violates the [Indiana] Constitution, Article 4, section 23,” the 2025 lawsuit read.
The suit also said Vasel suffered “irreparable harm” because he would have been eligible to run for the alumni-elected trustee seat and would have had a vote in that election.
Special Judge Erik Allen agreed that Vasel had direct injury and legal standing to pursue the case. But he still ruled in favor of the state, concluding that HEA 1001 passes constitutional muster.
Under Article 4 of the Indiana Constitution, laws are supposed to be general and applied uniformly across the state. The court said, though, that “special” legislation can still be constitutional when it deals with a subject that has “unique characteristics.”
The ruling said the law survives when “there is a link between the class’s unique characteristics and the legislative fix.”
In Allen’s view, Indiana University already stood apart from the rest of the state’s public universities because it was the only one whose alumni trustees were chosen by fellow alumni.
“Even if HEA 1001 is special, it is justified by a unique characteristic of Indiana University’s Board of Trustees,” the decision read.
The court granted summary judgement to the defendant, ending the case before trial.
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