The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Purdue University Board of Trustees to challenge Senate Enrolled Act 202, a law that increases the state legislature’s oversight of public universities and tenure in Indiana.
The Indiana Legislature passed the bill in February and Gov. Holcomb signed it into law in March. The law will go into effect July 1, 2024.
The law requires universities’ boards of trustees to implement policies that prohibit faculty members from receiving tenure or promotions if they are “unlikely to foster a culture of free inquiry, free expression, and intellectual diversity within the institutions.” These policies would also apply to faculty who are unlikely to expose students to other political or ideological frameworks. However, the law’s text does not specify what constitutes “a culture of free expression, inquiry, free expression and intellectual diversity” or “a variety of political or ideological frameworks.”
SEA 202 also requires boards of trustees to review tenured professors every five years to determine if the faculty member meets criteria for fostering this culture of free expression. At IU Bloomington, faculty on the tenure track receive a review after their first five years, which determines whether they receive tenure. According to the American Association of University Professors, post-tenure reviews take place at 67.6% of public universities.
The ACLU of Indiana filed the lawsuit on behalf of tenured Purdue University Fort Wayne professors Steven Carr and David Schuster. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, according to the complaint. The ACLU of Indiana hopes to block the statute from taking effect, which it says violates academic freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment.
The complaint said that as a public institution, Purdue University would be required to abide by and enforce the statute.
According to an ACLU of Indiana press release, Carr and Schuster cannot discern how to avoid violating the law because the law is ambiguous.
“The law could mean that public college or university professors must give debunked theories equal time in their classrooms alongside rigorously studied academic analysis,” the release said.
Faculty, administrators and students across Indiana have opposed the law. In February, IU President Pamela Whitten criticized the bill and said IU is “deeply concerned about language regarding faculty tenure that would put academic freedom at risk.”
