The future of the Kinsey Institute, the war in Gaza, and the Senate 202 Bill were all on the front lines of an IU student and faculty rally.
According to the Senate 202 Bill, university tenured professors must promote “free inquiry, free expression, and intellectual diversity.” The bill has passed in the House and Senate. The bill will now go to the Governor.
If the bill becomes law, it would allow students to file a complaint against a professor if they are not promoting “intellectual diversity.”
It also requires that an institution review intellectual diversity every five years.
Many people at the rally held up signs against the Senate 202 bill.
There was also support to keep the Kinsey Institute at IU.
Melissa Blundell shares why she came out to the rally
The institute is no longer allowed to receive state funding due to the HB 1001 bill.
According to AP, the bill was started by “a far right legislator” who “unleashed disputed allegations of child exploitation by its founder and famed mid-20th century researcher Alfred Kinsey.”
Kinsey was a professor of entomology and zoology, he started the Kinsey Institute in 1947.
Melissa Blundell, a PH.D. student in the Department of Gender Studies, shared her thoughts on why the rally was important.
“The Kinsey Institute is under attack and IU is not doing enough to protect it,” said Blundell.
According to Indiana Public Media, the IU Board of Trustees voted to keep the Kinsey Institute at IU
Students gather to support the Kinsey Institute
Students also rallied to support Palestine and protest the war on Gaza, and students and faculty shared their dissatisfaction with how IU is choosing to respond to the conflict.
IU recently suspended Abdulkader Sinno, an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science.
According to the IDS, “IU suspended Sinno from teaching until the upcoming fall semester for violating university policy when he filled out a room reservation form for an event with Israeli American speaker and pro-Palestine activist Miko Peled.”
The IDS said that he was suspended for not filling out the paperwork properly.
IU also canceled an art exhibit by Samila Halaby.
Halaby is a Palestinian artist who is vocal about Palestinian issues on social media.
According to CNN, 30,000 people have died in Gaza since the war started.
The IDS reported that the Bloomington Community Advisory on Public Safety Commission sent a letter to the city council that would ask them to “call for a permanent ceasefire, U.S. funding for humanitarian aid and the release of all Israeli and Palestinian hostages and political prisoners.”
