Deery: Controversial higher ed bill is better for Purdue than what some lawmakers have in mind
As pushback continues on Indiana campuses against Senate Bill 202, senator tells local crowd he’s trying to get ahead of worse bills he sees in the offing if this one doesn’t pass
Thanks to Stuart & Branigin for continued support of the Based in Lafayette reporting project.
This and that, watching that snow melt on a Sunday morning …
ON THE SENATE BILL 202 FRONT, OVER THE WEEKEND
Sen. Spencer Deery, speaking to a hometown crowd at a Greater Lafayette League of Women Voters “Discourse and Donuts” forum Saturday morning, acknowledged that he likely wasn’t in the friendliest territory when fielding questions about his current higher education bill.
Earlier in the week, Senate Bill 202 – an attempt to reform tenure policies, add intellectual diversity requirements into university courses and other means to address slights, real or perceived, felt by conservative students on campus – got blasted by faculty, students and some administration from Indiana campuses during three hours of Indiana House Education committee testimony. (See: “Faculty barrage Deery's bill aimed at ‘declining’ conservative faith in higher ed.”)

Saturday morning, in a church meeting room four blocks from Purdue’s campus, the West Lafayette Republican and a longtime part of former Purdue President Mitch Daniels’ administration framed the bill as a nuanced approach and a better alternative to bills waiting in the wings that would have been more blunt, targeting higher education in ways Florida and other states have done.
“Being an advocate of higher education, as I am down there, particularly in the Republican caucus, that can be a lonely place to be,” Deery said. “I have a number of colleagues that, frankly, don't even see why we're funding higher education.”
Deery continued with Saturday’s crowd, which included many and assorted ties to Purdue:
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Based in Lafayette, Indiana to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.