Tenure, Academic Freedom, and Public Universities

 Ryan Quinn at Inside Higher Ed:

In February, Republican lawmakers in Indiana passed a law saying public colleges and universities must deny tenure to professors who are “unlikely to foster … intellectual diversity.” The legislators left it to university trustees, many of whom are appointed by the governor, to determine what intellectual diversity actually means for faculty members and whether they have provided it.

Professors who earned tenure before the law’s passage aren’t spared from its implications. The statute says that whether they fostered intellectual diversity, and whether they “introduced students to scholarly works from a variety of political or ideological frameworks,” will now be considered in post-tenure reviews required every five years. A bad review could mean losing both tenure and employment.

In May, four faculty members from Indiana and Purdue university campuses sued to invalidate those parts of the law. The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, representing them, wrote in the lawsuit that these provisions impinge upon their First Amendment right to “academic freedom to determine the content of and deliver their instruction, free from interference by the State.”

But Indiana’s attorney general, Republican Todd Rokita, argues that the professors have no such First Amendment right. In an echo of Florida’s ongoing defense of its own legislative attempts to regulate public university classrooms, Rokita’s office wrote in a brief to the federal court that “the classroom curriculum of a public university is government speech set in accordance with State law.”

“The curriculum used in state universities and instruction offered by state employees” is “state speech,” the attorney general’s office wrote, and “plaintiffs”— the professors—”have no right to control how the State speaks.”

The state says the professors are “claiming a brand new, state-university specific ‘First Amendment right to academic freedom.’”

That last line is one of the “gratuitous stupidities” in the attorney general’s brief, wrote Steve Sanders—an Indiana University at Bloomington law professor who’s not involved in the case—in an essay on Medium Friday. The U.S. Supreme Court recognized decades ago that the First Amendment protects public university professors’ academic freedom; in 1967, the majority found that academic freedom is “a special concern of the First Amendment, which does not tolerate laws that cast a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom.”

Vaccination in Court

Many posts have discussed COVID, disinformation, and vaccine hesitancy.

Unanimous and all-GOP 7th Circuit panel (Reagan, Trump, Trump) makes quick work turning away students who argue Indiana University’s vaccination requirement is unconstitutional https://t.co/GvHAbexg2j pic.twitter.com/SPjOzy1pre

— Mike Sacks (@MikeSacksEsq) August 2, 2021

Scott Jaschik at Inside Higher Ed:

Writing for the panel, Judge Frank Easterbrook wrote: "People who do not want to be vaccinated may go elsewhere. Many universities require vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, but many others do not. Plaintiffs have ample educational opportunities."

...
He added: "Each university may decide what is necessary to keep other students safe in a congregate setting. Health exams and vaccinations against other diseases ... are common requirements of higher education. Vaccination protects not only the vaccinated persons but also those who come into contact with them, and at a university close contact is inevitable."
...

In addition, the judges noted that a university may do things to students because they are students, such as charging them tuition. "Undergraduates must part with at least $11,000 a year (in-state tuition) even though Indiana could not summarily confiscate that sum from all residents of college age."

The appeals court also said the First Amendment does not protect the students from the requirement. "The First Amendment means that a state cannot tell anyone what to read or write, but a state university may demand that students read things they prefer not to read and write things they prefer not to write. A student must read what a professor assigns, even if they student deems the books heretical, and must write exams or essays as required. A student who is told to analyze the role of nihilism in Dostoevsky's The Possessed but who submits an essay about Iago's motivations in Othello will flunk."

Homeless

A release from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority:

In a presentation to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority released the results of the 2019 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, which showed 58,936 people in Los Angeles County experiencing homelessness, representing a 12% rise from last year’s point-in-time count of 52,765. The city of Los Angeles saw a 16% rise to 36,300.

Two years into the 10-year investments from Measure H, LA County’s homeless services system has doubled the number of people moving from homelessness into housing over the course of each year, and tripled prevention, outreach, and engagement.

The homeless crisis response system helped 21,631 people move into permanent housing over the course of last year—40 percent of last year’s Count number, and a number that would end homelessness in most American cities and even states. Ninety-two percent of the people placed in permanent housing through our system in 2016 and 2017 stayed housed through the end of 2018 and did not return to homelessness.

Yet as thousands of people were permanently housed, thousands more fell into homelessness due to economic forces and the interlocking systems of foster care, mental health, criminal justice, and the housing market, outpacing the results.
...
This year’s Count revealed that 23% of the unsheltered people experiencing homelessness—more than 9,200 people—were homeless for the first time last year. The majority (53%) cited economic hardship as the cause.

The Count revealed that widely coordinated efforts to assist veterans had resulted in a small decrease in that population (from 3,886 to 3,874 ), a positive development given the overall rise. And Black/African-American people, who constitute 8.3% of the overall county population, continue to be overrepresented among people experiencing homelessness at 33%—though that figure has decreased slightly from its 2018 level of 35%.

Jill Cowan at NYT:

In Alameda County, the number of homeless residents jumped 43 percent over the past two years. In Orange County, that number was 42 percent. Kern County volunteers surveying the region’s homeless population found a 50 percent increase over 2018. San Francisco notched a 17 percent increase since 2017.

Madeline Holcombe at CNN:

Nationally, homelessness has been trending downward over the last decade, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. But this year's results, so far, offer a mixed bag.

For example, Seattle and King County, Washington, saw a decrease in homelessness for the first time in seven years with an 8% drop, according to a report by the organization All Home.

New York City said the number of unsheltered people -- those sleeping on the street, and in parks, subways and other public places -- declined by 2% from last year. In Indianapolis, the total number of people experiencing homelessness is down 7%, according to Indiana University's Public Policy Institute.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, said the number of people living on the street, in shelters and in transitional housing climbed 8%, and Austin, Texas, reported a 5% increase in the total number of people experiencing homelessness, according to Ending Community Homelessness Coalition.

Food Banks

WLNS in Lansing, Michigan, reports:

As the economy struggles to bounce back, food banks are faced with overwhelming need. The food Bank Council of Michigan tells us 1.1 million people were served in 2010, 1.6 million in 2011, and this year they are expecting even more.

The food is flying off the shelves, quite literally at Our Savior Lutheran Food Bank in Lansing. Director Sharon Miller says their serving more people than ever. They get orders from the Greater Lansing Food Bank to fill and their usual 12 has grown to more than 30. That's 30 families, not people, families with 3 or 4 children.

Miller says "one Friday I couldn't open at all because I ran out of food, another one I could only serve half of the people because I didn't have enough." For the first time in 14 years, Sharon Miller had to shut her doors. The shelves in the extra storage room are usually full on Monday. But by the end of the week, they were empty, telling a tale of just how many are in need.

The Brazil Times, in Brazil, Indiana, reports:

Staff members from the VistaCare Hospice office will blanket the Wabash Valley throughout August, distributing food collection bags and gathering donations for the Terre Haute Catholic Charities Foodbank as part of the company's eighth food drive.

As part of the Gentiva Health Services family and home health and hospice providers, employees at the VistaCare Hospice Terre Haute office and their fellow employee around the country are placing food collection bags at various health care partners in their respective communities and will collect their "harvest" during the entire month.

The organization is focused on beating last year's national record, when the company's seventh food drive yielded more than 382,702 pounds of goods for donation to charitable organizations across the country.

The Deseret News reports:

Christ United Methodist Church in Salt Lake reports a successful Vacation Bible School on its website. Called “Sky – Everything is Possible with God”, 83 children and 42 volunteers came together late last month and raised $265 for mosquito nets to protect children in Mali from malaria. They also collected 400 pounds of food for Crossroads Food Pantry.

Jan Kotuby, associate rector of St. James Episcopal Church, said her committee looked at changing dates and times, but parents and children preferred mornings, 9 to noon. “A number of children of other faiths participated this year. It worked out great for all of us.”

Vacation Bible School took place this past week, with the children, as always, working in the church’s community garden and donating food. St. James is a distribution center for the Utah Food Bank, open the second and fourth Sundays of every month.

It is no coincidence that these stories involve faith-based organizations. A 2010 report by Feeding America highlights the role of such groups:

• 72% of pantries, 62% of kitchens, and 39% of shelters are run by faith-based agencies affiliated with churches, mosques, synagogues, and other religious organizations. This compares to 74%, 65%, and 43% in 2005.
• In addition to operating emergency food programs, agencies may offer additional services. Among all agencies surveyed, 67% with at least one pantry, kitchen, or shelter are faith-based. About 55% of agencies, including those with other types of programs, are also faith-based.
• Private nonprofit organizations with no religious affiliation comprise 33% of other types of agencies.

Lugar Loses

Bloomberg reports on Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana, who lost his primary last night after serving six terms:

That Senator Richard G. Lugar was defeated for re-election in a Republican primary in Indiana yesterday wasn’t a surprise to anyone who had watched the tide turn against the 35-year senator in the past few weeks.

What was stunning was how thoroughly Lugar was defeated by state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who won by 61 percent to 39 percent.

Mourdock won 90 of Indiana’s 92 counties, taking more than two-thirds of the vote in 38 counties. Even in Marion County, where Lugar served as mayor of Indianapolis five decades ago, the senator won just 54 percent. The only other county Lugar won was Boone, an Indianapolis suburb.

Senator Lugar's defeat isn't really an unusual event. Senators have lower reelection rates than House members, in part because of their six-year terms. Whereas House members must constantly monitor shifting sentiments in their districts -- exactly as Madison explained in Federalist #57 -- senators are in greater danger of losing touch. That's especially true when they've had some easy reelection campaigns. Twelve or eighteen years may elapse between real battles, which gives plenty of time for their electoral muscles to atrophy.

In 1980, a little-known Long Island official named Al D'Amato shocked the political world when he toppled Senator Jacob Javits in the New York Republican primary. Javits stood well to the left of the state's primary electorate, and was in poor health. But he probably would have survived if he had spent more time in the state. I knew he was doomed when he told a television reporter about all he had done for upstate communities such as "Hoosier Falls." The reporter corrected him: "You mean Hoosick Falls."

Senator Lugar is a good man with a distinguished career. But he hadn't actually lived in his home state for many years, and his reelection team failed to mount a state-of-the-art campaign. And so he lost.

Politics, like show business, can be cruel to aging stars.

Turnout Data

Earlier posts analyzed recent census data on voter turnout. Indiana Public Media reports:

According to a survey recently released by the Census Bureau, Indiana had one of the four lowest voter turnout rates in the U.S. for the 2010 midterm elections. Just under 40 percent of Hoosiers turned out to vote compared to about 45 percent nationwide.

Indiana State University political science professor Matthew Bergbower says rules regarding same-day registration, early voting, and ID requirements could cause Indiana to be considered a “voter un-friendly” state. He says the public’s interest in individual campaigns is also key.

“If you have a state that has a lot of competitive races, you may get a lot of voter turnout that’s high,” he says. “But if you have states that don’t have competitive races—at the presidential level all the way down to senate and governor races—then voters may not seem like they need to turn out to vote because they already know who the winner is going to be.”

Indiana University Professor Margie Hershey says people should be careful when analyzing census data. She says the statistics are based on how many people said they voted not whether they actually did.

“In fact, the overall turnout rate appears to be closer to 40 percent than 45 percent, which means that 5 percent of people fibbed,” she says.

Hershey says it is hard to tell how honest Hoosiers were, so the gap between state and national averages may or may not be as large as it seems.

Indiana in the 2012 Election

As we discuss in our chapter on elections and campaigns, the electoral college focuses presidential candidates on certain key states. An earlier post noted that President Obama's disapproval rating exceeds his approval rating in eight states that he carried in 2008. One of those states is Indiana. Will its 11 electoral votes be in play next year? The Indianapolis Star reports:

Indiana a battleground? Face it. Before Obama won Indiana, Hoosiers had backed only three Democrats for president since 1900: Woodrow Wilson in 1912, Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936, and Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

"I'd be astonished if (Obama) was able to catch lightning in a bottle two times in a row," said Robert Dion, a political science professor at the University of Evansville.
...
[GOP consultant Jennifer] Hallowell "absolutely" thinks that if McCain had paid more attention to Indiana he could have secured the 28,000 votes needed to win the state. McCain, after all, made only three campaign stops in Indiana in 2008, including one desperation fly-in the day before the election. Obama made 49.

Dion, the Evansville professor, agrees the GOP can't just assume it has Indiana locked down.

"I don't think Indiana is going to swing headlong into the Republican embrace. It's not going to be as solidly Republican as it was for decades on end. They will have to compete for it," he said. "But the odds are very good that it's going to be a Republican pickup. And at a certain point, the Obama campaign is either going to have to go all in or cut bait, and my guess is they'll focus on those states that are more within reach."