Indiana GOP Slips Overnight Higher Ed Takeover into State Budget – Tenure, academic freedom, and governance at IU under assault as local political tensions rise

Staff Report
April 24, 2025

BLOOMINGTON, IND. — Under the cover of night, Indiana’s Republican supermajority inserted sweeping changes to the state’s higher education system into the budget bill, sparking sharp criticism over threats to academic freedom, faculty governance, and institutional independence at Indiana University and beyond.

Meanwhile, some on the political right celebrated the move and expressed hopes that the Kinsey Institute would be shuttered. The institute has been the subject of prior protests, including one where right-wing bikers provided security for anti-sex research activists. IU also drew attention during the COVID-19 pandemic when anti-vaccine activists staged protests and some even attempted to run for the board of trustees. At the time, the previous IU administration, now out of power, implemented mask mandates and treated the pandemic — which killed more than 1.04 million Americans — with seriousness. For context, about 1.19 million Americans have died in all U.S. wars combined.

Back to the current legislation: the provisions, inserted without public hearings or input, grant the governor full control over Indiana University’s Board of Trustees, eliminate alumni-elected seats, mandate political oversight of degree programs, and introduce post-tenure faculty evaluations that can result in dismissal for “non-productivity.”

“This isn’t just bad policy — it’s authoritarian, anti-democratic, and not right,” said Monroe County Council Member-at-Large David Henry in a public statement. “IU has been singled out by the Republican Supermajority. Again.”

Power Consolidated in Governor’s Hands

Against a backdrop of right-wing influence and free speech crackdowns on campus, the legislation gives the governor authority to remove and replace alumni-elected trustees at IU — a historic first — permanently ending alumni voting rights in trustee elections. All IU trustees, except for the student seat, will now be gubernatorially appointed.

“Academic freedom is on five-alarm fire at IU,” Henry warned. “This is a warning shot to every public university in Indiana.”

The legislation also tightens scrutiny over academic programs, requiring state approval for any degree track that graduates fewer than a specified number of students. Programs failing to meet the threshold must be eliminated unless authorized by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.

Tenure on the Chopping Block

The bill introduces mandatory post-tenure productivity reviews, requiring faculty to be evaluated on teaching loads, student numbers, and research output. Faculty who do not meet institution-defined standards will face probation and potential termination.

The review process applies to all current tenured faculty unless protected by agreements in place before July 1, 2025.

Faculty Governance Gutted

Further weakening academic autonomy, the law designates all faculty governance decisions as “advisory only” and mandates that governance meetings be open to the public. Faculty councils — once central to shared governance — will now wield no binding authority.

Additionally, syllabi for all courses must be posted publicly, a move critics say could further politicize course content.

Chilling Local Context

The bill arrives amid a troubling local climate. Recently, the Monroe County Republican Party held a closed-door event at The Warehouse featuring a speaker with known white nationalist ties.

https://indianapublicmedia.org/news/no-answers-from-monroe-county-republican-party-leadership-about-its-guest-speaker-tuesday.php

Journalists were barred from covering the event. When The Bloomingtonian reached out for a video or comment, the party responded only two days later with a press release criticizing local law enforcement and citing “rising violent crime.”

This time, The Bloomingtonian is not reaching out for comment.

In a separate development, the FBI recently raided the home of Indiana University professor Xiaofeng Wang. Neither IU nor federal officials have explained the reason. At least two additional IU professors remain under investigation following anonymous complaints filed under Indiana’s “intellectual diversity” law, passed by the GOP-controlled legislature last year.

Community Mobilization

David Henry has urged Hoosiers to contact their state lawmakers to oppose the bill, naming Reps. Bob Heaton, Dave Hall, and Peggy Mayfield as key figures. He praised Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington, for standing in defense of academic freedom.

“We need to light up the phones TODAY,” Henry wrote. “Call. Share. Organize. This is a time for fighting.”

The budget bill has passed both chambers and awaits final procedural approval. Advocates for higher education are calling on university officials and alumni to speak out before it’s too late.

IU President Pamela Whitten and the university’s Board of Trustees have yet to issue a public response.

However, Margaret Menge, a critic of the previous IU administration, who ran for IU Board of Trustees during the pandemic, said in a Facebook comment on this article, “I applaud this change. The IU Board of Trustees has been nothing but a lunch club for a long time and has refused to say a thing as the constitutional rights of students are violated systematically in admissions and the rights of faculty and staff to equal treatment under the law are also violated. How many faculty really support Free Speech? I don’t remember any rallies or protests when the Christian Preacher was forcibly removed from campus, along with his elderly wife, for preaching the Gospel. Spare me the hyperventilating about academic freedom. Faculty is 98% on the Left. How can you have Free Speech and real debate when only one side gets jobs, a platform, a voice? You can’t.”

Menge is referring to this:

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