Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) – Association of University Professors (AAUP)

For Immediate Release:
April 17th, 2026

Contact: 
Benjamin Robinson: 
Email: brobinso1@gmail.com 
Tel: 812-360-1506

Bloomington, Indiana—The American Association of University Professors chapter at Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) is releasing an independent financial analysis of IUB. The chapter commissioned the analysis from Howard Bunsis, Professor of Accounting at Eastern Michigan University and a specialist in the finances of higher education. It will present the analysis at a public online meeting on April 29, 2026.

The independent report demonstrates the inconsistency of the IUB upper administration’s financial priorities with its stated emphasis on student instruction and success. The IUB AAUP notes that the administration’s warnings of budget tightness do not correspond to IU’s AAA (highest) bond rating, to the 50% increase in IU reserves, and to IUB’s continuing record enrollment numbers and tuition revenue. Where the administration has enacted program eliminations, benefit cuts, hiring austerity, and salary restraint, the AAUP observes that IU has more than enough resources on hand to invest in the excellence of its core academic mission. Where the administration has cut the share of the budget going to instructional salary for the past 10 years, the AAUP emphasizes that IU’s faculty are the chief agents of our students’ success. 

Some highlights of the independent financial analysis include:

• IU has highest (AAA) bond rating (p. 13)
• IU reserves have increased 50% since 2021 when Pamela Whitten became president (p. 10)
• IUB has experienced no demographic cliff, with enrollments increasing 11.2% over the last 10 years (p. 72).
• As IUB headcount and credit hour enrollments (up 16.5%) have soared over the last 10 years, the number of tenure-track faculty has decreased 6.9% while the number of non-tenure-track faculty has increased by 16% (p. 72 and p. 81). 
• IUB administrative costs have increased significantly faster than instructional costs—61.7% v. 19.3% from 2017 to 2024 (p. 30).
• IUB salaries for instruction have decreased as a share of total salaries—from 48.4% to 41.9% from 2017 to 2024 (p. 33).
• State appropriations have decreased in real terms on a per capita basis, putting IU near the bottom of all states (pp. 55-6).
• IUB faculty salaries have lagged inflation for all ranks (p. 84).
• IUB faculty salaries are well below Big Ten peers except at the assistant level (p. 119).
• While relatively more expenditure has gone to the non-instructional categories of “institutional and academic support,” student graduation and retention rates at IUB remain mediocre compared to the Big 10 (p. 121). 
• Among its program peers, IUB has the 3rd largest subsidy from the core mission to support athletics, in both dollar and percentage terms (p. 107).

You can read the full report on our website.

The IUB-AAUP calls on the upper administration of IUB to align its financial priorities with IUB’s core mission of academic excellence. We call for investment in the instructional faculty and staff who work to fulfill IU’s mission. We call for transparent and comprehensive collaboration with faculty through established shared governance channels to shape financial priorities consonant with Bloomington’s legacy and with a robust academic future for IUB. And we call for strengthening and expanding the tenure system at IU rather than weakening it through one-sided policies enacted by the Board of Trustees.

A public Town Hall presentation and Q&A (open to the press) will be held on Wed., April 29, 7:30pm at: https://zoom.us/j/99568497143?pwd=FulrWRCYjBqscw2oqOk0DQoCEZYA7D.1 

IUB-AAUP Executive Committee
iubaaup.org