Dear Colleague,
On February 20, the American Historical Association sent a letter to members of the Indiana House of Representatives opposing SB 202, which mandates that Indiana’s public universities create a policy for granting tenure and terminating faculty around fostering an odd and politically driven notion of “intellectual diversity” in the classroom. The legislation is not about the virtues of exploring historical issues from a variety of different angles of vision; it focuses instead on political frameworks. Our letter warned, “SB 202 is a danger to both the quality of history education and Indiana’s system of public higher education itself.”
Despite the opposition of a broad range of Indiana public universities and institutions, the Indiana legislature passed SB 202 on February 29. In response to the bill’s passage, Purdue University shared a message with its faculty members reaffirming academic freedom and tenure, declaring, “This university resolutely stands for freedom of speech and academic freedom, and always will.”
But there is still a chance to stop the bill from becoming law: Governor Eric Holcomb can veto it. Act now: write to Gov. Holcomb and urge him to veto SB 202. Once the bill has been signed by legislative leadership and delivered to the governor, likely early this week, he will have seven days to sign or veto the bill. You can contact the governor directly through this form, and are welcome to adapt the AHA’s letter or craft your own. Tell the governor that this bill would undermine the integrity and quality of education in Indiana’s public universities, and that his constituents stand strong in support of academic freedom. And please consider sharing your concerns about this bill with others in your community and across the state.
The AHA’s advocacy work is more critical now than perhaps ever before. If you believe in the importance of honest history education, please donate to the AHA’s Advocacy Fund to support our advocacy work.
Sincerely,
James Grossman
Executive Director