Rana to step down from Bloomington city council, academic couple to move to University of Missouri

Shruti Rana will be resigning from the Bloomington city council effective Feb. 7.

In an emailed message sent early Saturday afternoon by Rana, she told her council colleagues that she and her family would be relocating to Missouri.

Rana is already employed by the University of Missouri, having accepted a position in fall 2023 as Assistant Vice Chancellor and Professor of Law. To take that spot, she left her Indiana University position as assistant dean at IU’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies and professor of law.

Rana’s husband is David Gamage, who announced in a Saturday email to his faculty colleagues at the IU Maurer School of Law on Saturday that he would be  accepting a position at the University of Missouri as the Law School Foundation Distinguished Professor of Tax Law and Policy.

Rana’s announcement comes two weeks after she was sworn into office as a councilmember for the first time. The only meeting the council has held so far covered basic organizational matters like the selection of the council president.

When the news broke last fall, on Aug. 24, that Rana would be taking the University of Missouri position, a question immediately arose about her ability to continue on a path to eventual service on the Bloomington city council in 2024. At that point, she had prevailed in the Democratic Party’s District 5 primary over Jenny Stevens and was locked in as the party’s candidate on the Nov. 7 municipal election ballot.

At that time, Rana confirmed to The B Square she had accepted the position at Missouri, but had not yet started. She also described it as a remote “hybrid” position that would allow her to continue to live in Bloomington with her family, who were also staying put.

Rana was sworn into office as a Bloomington city councilmember two weeks ago, on Jan. 1.

Rana and Gamage moved to Bloomington to take their positions at Indiana University in 2016.

Reached by The B Square on Saturday, Rana told The B Square it was not an easy decision to move to Missouri. “It’s a really hard decision for us, because we love Bloomington so much,” she said. Rana said that she and Gamage had always said that they would never relocate from Bloomington unless they both had jobs at a different place.

Jobs for both of them at the University of Missouri, and not just Rana, started to become a possibility in November last year, when Missouri reached out to Gamage to interview him and then made an initial offer, Rana said. The arrangement between Gamage and the University of Missouri did not get finalized until Friday (Jan. 12), Rana said.

Asked by The B Square if she knew it was a possibility that she would be taking a position with the University of Missouri, when she ran in the May 7, 2023 Democratic Party primary for  city council, Rana said she did not. It was only in August of that year when the University of Missouri reached out to her to ask if she would consider the position, Rana said.

About Gamage’s and her decision to move to Missouri with their daughter, who’s a first-grader, Rana said, “They made us an offer that was just too good to pass up.” She added, “It was just a really great opportunity for our family.”

Between now and Rana’s announced resignation date, including that date of resignation, the council has three meetings on its calendar—Jan. 17, Jan. 24, and Feb. 7.

Under Indiana state law the resignation of a city councilmember has to be be sent to the county clerk. In Monroe County, that’s Nicole Browne.

State law also sets out requirements for the scheduling of the Democratic Party’s caucus to fill the vacancy that Rana’s resignation will leave.

Reached on Saturday by The B Square, Monroe County Democratic Party chair David Henry said that he would be getting the Indiana Election Division’s help in nailing down what the scheduling possibilities are. He wants to see if it might be feasible to consolidate the District 5 council caucus with some other upcoming caucuses that will be or could be necessary.

There’s a county auditor’s caucus that could be needed. That’s a scenario that could unfold, if incumbent auditor Catherine Smith is the party’s selection to fill the county treasurer’s vacancy—which would, in turn, leave the auditor’s job vacant. The treasurer’s vacancy caucus is already on the calendar for Jan. 20.

The county treasurer’s vacancy stems from the departure of Jessica McClellan, who resigned in order to accept the appointment as city controller by new Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson.

Rana’s position as vice chair of the Monroe Democratic Party will also become vacant, which would be filled through a caucus process.

Unless they are consolidated, that means there could be three separate Democratic Party vacancy caucuses in February—for county auditor, county vice chair, and District 5 city council.

In the District 5 city council race, it would be only the precinct chairs for the precincts making up District 5, on the southeastern periphery of the city, who could vote in the caucus.

Last year’s District 5 Democratic Party primary, which Rana won, was contested by Jenny Stevens. It was Rana who prevailed with about 58 percent of the vote compared to 42 percent for Stevens.

Reached on Saturday by The B Square, Stevens said that if there is a caucus to replace Rana, then she would be interested in standing as a candidate in the caucus.

“I was interested in serving—it’s why I ran a campaign,” Stevens told The B Square. She continued, “It’s why I walked the neighborhoods and talked with the people, and I became more invested in the community than I’d ever been before.” Stevens added, “It was a privilege to meet people at their doors and hear their issues.”