Editor's note
Will Higgins, a living Hoosier treasure, talks about death, burials, and the macabre on this week’s Who Gets What podcast. Journalist, tour guide, and story-collector, Will shares some little known tales of Indiana for listeners to Who Gets What via mortonjohn.libsyn.com
Hear ye! Hear ye! The Indiana General Assembly and the Governor of the Hoosier state have declared, by the passage and signing of SB 202, that Intellectual Diversity must be promoted by the faculties of our state-supported colleges and universities.

Henceforth, any student may report teachers for failure to promote Intellectual Diversity. Boards of Trustees are responsible for the implementation of this new law. What penalties for failure to comply may apply to those Bored Board members is not clear.

Naturally, the legislators left no clue as to what constitutes Intellectual Diversity. Will a faculty member in the Geography Department, who does not include materials concerning the Flat Earth hypothesis, be subject to discipline?

As a teacher of economics, I stressed the intellectual and empirical dispute concerning the efficacy of monetary policy and fiscal policy. In addition to an exhilarating lecture on the sanctity of Perfect Competition, I would extoll the work of Joan Robinson (a woman) on monopolistic competition which more accurately describes contemporary competitive markets.

I have vivid memories of giving an excessive amount of time to one student who had totally inexplicable concepts of economic behavior. He ultimately went to prison for fraudulent practices in the management of other people’s money.

Does Intellectual Diversity mean including the Holy Bible (which edition?) in the syllabus for History classes? Were the dinosaurs fallen angels, fallen Anglicans or merely faculty beyond a certain age?

Actual Intellectual Diversity terrifies Indiana’s moribund political leadership. They feel threatened by diversity of thought which deviates from their mythological tenets. Must Purdue or Ivy Tech students, who anticipate Santa’s visits, be accommodated in courses on Tourism and Hospitality as well as Construction and Aeronautics?

Will faculty members who advocate for the metric system be exposed as agents of foreign powers? Do legislators believe “Metrics are Marxist Measures” that undermine traditional American standards based on the length of the royal foot and the distance between the royal nose and the extended royal middle finger?

Henceforth, the Boards of Trustees (not to be confused with prison trusties) must submit reports to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education on complaints by students or employees of the afflicted institutions concerning the behavior of the faculty with regard to violations of the engrossed legislation.

(What a beautiful use of our language, engrossed legislation! Engrossed, to be made large, to be obsessed. Gross, to be flagrant, obvious, or unmitigated.)

As usual, the legislation itself carries no funding for the added staff and efforts of the affected institutions. Higher costs of operation? More meetings with travel expenses? Higher tuition fees? More distraction at the legislature to explore why any “petitions” by students have been unsatisfactorily managed?

That the Indiana General Assembly would be so callous, so uninformed as to pass this legislation is no surprise. That the Governor would sign it is an indication of undisclosed ambition or willful gullibility.
Morton J. Marcus is an economist formerly with the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. His column appears in Indiana newspapers, and his views can be followed his podcast.

© 2024 Morton J. Marcus

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