When I first joined IndyStar last May, no one could have guessed I’d be one of the busiest reporters in the newsroom.
You may think of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as 45 words inscribed on a paper sitting in a museum, but I’ve been working to report on how that single sentence is a living piece of law that impacts us every day.
In recent months, the core doctrine has been challenged most often on Indiana’s college campuses.
In less than a year on the job, I’ve reported on an unconstitutional college protest policy, a firing over comments made about Charlie Kirk, administrative pressure on two student newspapers, the attorney general launching investigations into private colleges for diversity policies, and how international students are shying away from speaking out after federal visa pressure.
And then, there’s Senate Bill 202. This legislation is one of a kind. Unlike many other bills at the Statehouse, there’s not another state that’s enacted anything like it.
The law requires universities to ensure their professors maintain “intellectual diversity” in the classroom and codifies two mechanisms to do that: a complaint system and routine tenure reviews. The bill’s Republican author said it was an attempt to correct college campuses’ liberal leanings.
It’s under this law that we’ve seen an Indiana University professor sanctioned for an anonymous complaint and another temporarily removed from teaching and punished for showing a graphic on white supremacy.
Since last May, I’ve been working on reporting out just what the impact of this bill looks like. It’s taken me that long because it’s developing in real time and there is no consensus of what that looks like.
More than ever, professors don’t want to go on the record in fear that the state or their university would target them, potentially through this law. That’s made it harder to understand how things are changing, but it also demonstrates one of my key findings: Professors are scared of retribution and are pulling back from teaching and speaking out because of it.
This week, we also published online what we know about how SEA 202 is changing classroom debate and affecting student outcomes. I’ll keep tracking this law as it matures to learn whether it’s balancing political topics in the classroom, infringing on faculty speech, or a mix of both.
The USA TODAY Network – Indiana’s coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners.
Have a story to tell? Reach Cate Charron by email at ccharron@indystar.com, on X at @CateCharron or Signal at @cate.charron.28.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Why IndyStar is focusing First Amendment coverage on universities
Reporting by Cate Charron, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
