These are fraught times for higher education across the United States of America.
Indiana’s public colleges and universities are not escaping the crosshairs. With the state being dominated by conservative politicians, it should come as no surprise.
Every institution of higher learning is a potential target. Those with reputations in conservative circles of being bastions of liberal thought and expression have already been subjected to interference on multiple levels.
Those that have escaped right-wing wrath so far are working behind the scenes to prevent drawing attention and, in some cases, succumbing to pressure preemptively.
Much of the current climate is fueled by President Donald Trump’s disdain for higher education as an establishment and his attempts to exert more federal control over institutions that he believes don’t share his view of the world.
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun has joined Trump’s assault. After Republican lawmakers at the end of the recent legislative session slipped a provision into a bill giving the governor complete appoint powers to Indiana University’s board of trustees, Braun dismissed three board members elected by IU alumni.
His new appointees, including former Terre Haute attorney James Bopp Jr., reflect Braun’s partisan political ideology.
While such partisan appointments are not uncommon in politics, the unseemly nature of the legislative trick coupled with Braun’s quick dismissal of members elected by alumni was heavy-handed and unnecessary. It reflects yet another instance of concocting a solution to a problem that does not exist, all for the sake of increasing partisan dominance.
The pressure on higher ed institutions exists, even without direct intervention from state or local elected officials. Indiana State University in Terre Haute buckled quickly to political headwinds when it changed the name and focus of the Charles E. Brown African-American Cultural Center on campus.
The center, which for decades taught about Black history and culture and helped establish ISU as a welcoming place that embraces and celebrates diversity, has been coerced into making these changes because of looming threats of financial retaliation from federal and state government agencies.
Its new name is the Charles E. Brown Cultural Center, cutting African American from the center’s title. Its new focus is now said to be serving women, minorities and all cultures.
ISU also bowed to the whims of political ideology when, in the process of making deep and broad budget cuts because of decreases in state support this year, it eliminated executive positions that directed multicultural programs and services related to diversity, equity and inclusion.
We agree with the critics of these new policies who say such change does nothing to improve the educational climate at ISU and elsewhere. In fact, it does the opposite.
Colleges and universities across our state are treasures to the communities where they are located and to the larger population. They earned such reputations through the decades as places where students have equal opportunities to learn and grow and prepare themselves to be good and informed citizens and future leaders.
What is happening to these institutions today threatens to tarnish those reputations and lessen their value.
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