Republicans' support for Pamela Whitten is situational

In a recent opinion piece in IndyStar, U.S. Rep. Jim Banks urges support for Indiana University President Pamela Whitten in the face of a recent no-confidence vote by faculty.

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I'll leave it to the reader to decide if Banks' account is accurate or if the faculty simply want a president who doesn't ignore the same university rules she enforces against the students. However, if Banks believes that we should be supporting Whitten, I'd like to ask him why that support doesn't extend to her strong opposition to Senate Bill 202, the now-law praised by Banks that undermines tenure at IU.

While concern about intellectual diversity at universities is valid, SB 202 does more harm than good. In the words of Whitten, it puts "academic freedom at risk, weakens the intellectual rigor essential to preparing students with critical thinking skills, and damages our ability to compete for world-class faculty."

Far from restoring ideological diversity, SB 202 will only limit the choices IU has in whom it can hire and unwisely wastes the investment that Indiana taxpayers have made in creating a world-class university.

If the Indiana legislature is truly interested in addressing the hard problem of ideological diversity in universities, it should consult with institutions, such as FIRE, which has probably done more to defend unpopular conservative (and indeed, all) voices at academic institutions than anyone else, and stands with President Whitten in condemning SB 202.

Peter Gerdes lives in Bloomington.