Indiana
As free speech controversies mount, Indiana University faculty pitch vote of no confidence in university leadership
Concerns over free speech and academic freedom are prompting Indiana University faculty to consider a vote of no confidence this month against IU’s most senior leadership. The Indiana Daily Student reported faculty will meet April 16 to consider a petition calling for a vote of no confidence in IU President Pamela Whitten and two other high-level administrators.
The petition cites encroachments on academic freedom and shared governance, noting examples that raised concerns about viewpoint discrimination like the university’s sanctioning of associate professor Abdulkader Sinno for an alleged violation of university room reservation policies and its cancellation of an art exhibit featuring a prominent Palestinian artist at IU’s campus museum.
These incidents add to IU’s years-long questionable track record on free speech issues that has placed the university on our radar and prompted repeated — but often ignored — correspondence from FIRE. Most recently, at IU’s request, Indiana University Hillel postponed a March 26 campus event featuring prominent pro-Israel activist and Hamas critic Mosab Hassan Yousef due to what the university dubbed “credible security information.”
After ignoring FIRE’s warnings about the threat to academic freedom, Indiana University School of Medicine now appears to require faculty to sign a politicized honor code as part of its training on mitigating bias.
Indiana University School of Medicine continues to disregard First Amendment, smuggles ideological commitments into honor code
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Transparency is vital when a public university curtails expressive rights, and vague security concerns must not serve as pretext for shutting down events on campus. IU said the “credible security information” raised concerns about the safety of the event and its attendees, and Yousef pointed to “serious and credible security issues involving the Muslim community and several White supremacist groups” involving the FBI.
While security threats that implicate potential FBI involvement certainly can warrant total event cancellation, at the very least, the university needs to show its work by publicly demonstrating the threats it received rose to such an extraordinary level of severity that canceling was the only way to assure the safety of would-be participants and attendees. After all, when universities anticipate substantial disruptions, they must respond not by canceling or hamstringing the event, but rather with “bona fide efforts” to protect expressive rights “by other, less restrictive means.”
It was clear in the Yousef event’s leadup that it was very likely to draw significant attention and controversy, as a student group advertised a protest that would have bused in off-campus protesters to demonstrate in front of the venue. And Yousef, also known as the “Son of Hamas,” has drawn significant controversy for his criticism of Islam and the Muslim community. Such high-profile and potentially disruptive protests should have prompted the university to bolster security for the event — and to postpone it only as a last resort.
Yet IU’s track record offers reason to doubt it approached the event with the First Amendment top-of-mind.
In January, for example, administrators sanctioned associate professor Abdulkader Sinno, who allegedly violated a minor university procedure for reserving on-campus rooms when he scheduled an event featuring an Israeli-American critic of Israel. A banishment from teaching until the fall semeseter amounted to severe discipline for what appeared to be a relatively minor infraction, rendering it seemingly pretextual in light of Sinno’s pro-Palestinian advocacy.
That same month, IU canceled an exhibit at the university’s Eskenazi Museum of Art featuring Samia Halaby, a Palestinian artist, ostensibly due to concerns about guaranteeing “the integrity of the exhibit.” But the university also cited complaints by museum staff about Halaby’s activism, suggesting they nixed the exhibit because of Halaby’s support for Palestinians. Shortly after that incident, FIRE requested records about it under state open records law — two months later, we’re still waiting to receive them.
Indiana University has refused to be transparent about alleged ‘security concerns’ that prompted cancellation of Palestinian painter Samia Halaby’s exhibit.
FIRE seeks Indiana University records on cancellation of pro-Palestinian art exhibit
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And the university’s misdeeds on speech aren’t relegated to expression relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For example, in early 2023, the university stonewalled in response to FIRE’s concern about its requirement that faculty members pledge their “views, beliefs, actions, and inactions do not, intentionally or unintentionally, perpetuate . . . inequity” in healthcare, potentially forcing faculty to promise not to engage in wrongthink that contradicts university-approved orthodoxy. That came after the university began a three-year plan to phase in a requirement that faculty seeking tenure and promotion “show effort toward advancing DEI” in either their teaching or their extramural research and work.
In late 2022, the university consistently delayed and denied public records requests from student journalists, displaying disregard for transparency. A little earlier that year, when several faculty members emailed a faculty listserv raising personal concerns about a proposed state abortion bill, an administrator chided them and claimed they could face discipline because the administration did not approve their message. FIRE wrote IU to urge it not to punish faculty for their speech about abortion, but the university did not respond substantively to our concerns.
Some at IU seem to recognize the need to protect free expression and academic freedom. In a measured victory for academic freedom, the university’s board of trustees endorsed President Whitten’s proposal to keep IU as the home of the Kinsey Institute — famous for its research about sexuality and relationships — while complying with a law that prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars to fund it. And both pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian student groups recently held events on campus despite the university’s latest actions.
IU currently ranks a disappointing 225 out of 248 schools in FIRE’s 2024 College Free Speech Rankings. Until it recognizes how its actions chill speech on campus, it risks finding itself atop of a much more ignominious list.
FIRE’s 2025 “10 Worst Censors” list won’t be finalized for at least another nine months, but IU is already shaping up to be a contender for the annual (dis)honor.
(AP) — It could take several weeks to complete a recount — if one is sought — of the razor-thin margin in the Republican primary race between state Sen. Spencer Deery and his President Donald Trump-endorsed challenger.
The Indiana Recount Commission on Friday approved procedures for checking ballots in a possible recount just hours before the Tippecanoe County Election Board completed the final preliminary tallies in the Senate District 23 race.
As Tippecanoe County counted no additional ballots in the race, the totals from all six counties in the district showed Deery with a three-vote margin — 6,337 to 6,334 — over Fountain County Republican Chair Paula Copenhaver.
Recount filing period opened
Friday was the first day recount petitions could be filed with the state. A candidate has until noon Tuesday to do so, while any Republican county chair in the district faces a noon May 22 deadline to ask for a recount.
Copenhaver did not immediately seek a recount Friday, and neither she nor a campaign spokesman responded to messages from the Indiana Capital Chronicle seeking comment.
Deery, a first-term senator from West Lafayette, was among the Republican legislators targeted by Trump after voting against the congressional redistricting plan pushed last year by the president.
When asked about the prospect of a recount, Deery replied, “I don’t have anything to say about a request that hasn’t happened yet.”
Final tallies were also posted Friday in the Senate District 15 primary between Republican Sen. Liz Brown of Fort Wayne and challenger Darren Vogt.
Those results for the district, which is entirely in Allen County, showed Vogt picking up one vote from the preliminary figures. But Vogt still trailed Brown by 14 votes — 5,241 to 5,227.
Vogt did not respond to messages seeking comment about whether he would seek a recount.
Recount work could last into July
The state Recount Commission, meanwhile, approved Friday the selection of a recount director and guidelines for State Board of Accounts auditors in conducting any election reviews.
Recounts conducted in 2024 of two contested Indiana House primary races confirmed the initial results, finding only two miscounted ballots out of thousands.
But those reviews were not finalized until August — three months after the primary was held.
State Examiner Paul Joyce, who heads up the Board of Accounts, said after Friday’s commission meeting that the logistics are complicated for a recount spread over multiple counties.
The tight Deery-Copenhaver race involves all or parts of six counties spanning much of the area between Lafayette and Terre Haute.
Joyce said field auditors could need two days in each county to complete their work.
“If it’s in the six-county area, you’re talking a minimum of 12 on-site days,” Joyce told the Capital Chronicle. “It’s not going to surprise me if it’s into July. I would hope it’s done before the end of July and we don’t get into August.”
Morales responds to criticism
Republican Secretary of State Diego Morales is chair of the Recount Commission, along with Republican member Paul Mullin and Democratic member Michael Claytor.
Morales, who also chaired the commission during the 2024 recount, said “we are ready” to take up any requests.
“We’ve been preparing for this, just in case,” Morales told the Capital Chronicle. “If they will file a recount between today until noon next Friday, then we will be ready.”
Claytor asked at the end of the commission’s 15-minute meeting for Morales to respond to criticism of his role as the board’s chair because of his involvement with Turning Point USA, which endorsed Copenhaver, and public support of congressional redistricting.
“This is my duties, my responsibilities, and I will be chairing the Recount Commission,” Morales said. “If should there be any recount filed, we will be holding those meetings transparently for the public to see.”
The commission approved the appointment of attorney Jessica Dickinson as the recount director. Dickinson has been Indiana House parliamentarian, making her a key aide to Republican Speaker Todd Huston during legislative sessions. She has also worked for a Fishers law firm founded by Hamilton County Republican Chair Mario Massillamany and GOP state Rep. Chris Jeter.
WABASH, Ind. (WISH) — A motorcyclist is dead in Wabash County after striking a utility pole in the early hours of Saturday morning.
State police say just before 3 a.m., officers with the Wabash County Police Department attempted to stop a motorcycle after the rider ran a red light.
The motorcycle did not stop and “fled at a high rate of speed.” Just moments later, the motorcycle traveled off the roadway near the intersection of Miami Street and Walter Street, and struck a utility pole.
Despite life-saving efforts, the rider was pronounced dead at the scene.
The person’s name has not yet been released by the Wabash County Coroner’s Office.
State police are actively investigating the incident, and no further information has been released.
NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — Mother Nature is forcing one of central Indiana’s most popular spring festivals to move.
The Indiana Peony Festival has been rescheduled from Saturday, May 16, to Sunday, May 17, due to forecasted storms and high winds.
“After closely monitoring the weather overnight, and after doing everything we could to keep today’s plans in place, conditions have unfortunately taken a turn for the worse,” festival organizers said in a statement. “We are so incredibly sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
Noblesville Mayor Chris Jensen says he supports the festival’s decision to postpone until Sunday.
“While we can’t control the weather, this adjustment helps ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone involved. The city is ready to support the festival’s efforts for tomorrow, and we look forward to welcoming visitors to enjoy the event on Sunday,” Jensen said in a release.
Know Before You Go:
- Festival Hours: Remain the same — 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
- Location: Noblesville’s Seminary Park and Historic Downtown
- Events: Festival and Downtown Brunch and Retail Crawl Brunch & Blooms
For updated information, please visit indianapeonyfestival.com.
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