Deery defends tenure reform bill as blowback grows at Purdue, IU

Senator says declining trust in higher ed isn’t just perception; skepticism from faculty, IU’s president greets bill ahead of hearing today. Plus, LPD, prosecutor team up on Major Crimes Unit

After Indiana University President Pamela Whitten cast doubt on a sweeping bill aimed at countering negative connotations about higher education, particularly among conservatives, state Sen. Spencer Deery took a swing back this week, defending a measure he authored.

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Whitten, in a statement released last week, said Senate Bill 202 – one that reforms the faculty tenure rules on state campuses and gives General Assembly leaders more control over the makeup of university boards of trustees – “risks unintended consequences that threaten not just the stature of Indiana University, but the economic and cultural vitality of the state.”

Deery, a West Lafayette Republican who was part of Mitch Daniels’ staff at Purdue, said Whitten is bowing to faculty and proving a point behind the bill.

“In a single statement,” Deery said, “President Whitten has highlighted for all Hoosiers the failure of leadership that has led to the decline in trust and support for American universities.”

Meanwhile, the University Senate at Purdue is scheduled Monday to discuss a resolution that stands against Senate Bill 202 as a measure that would turn tenure into “a political weapon to leverage” and a snitching culture built on “an atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust on university campuses.”

The bill, which cleared the Indiana Senate last week on a 39-9 vote, will get a hearing in the House Education committee at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday (Feb. 14). (To watch the livestream of the hearing, here’s a link.) Efforts to rally faculty members from Purdue and other universities to testify were going on early this week.

“It’s breathtaking in its overreach,” Alice Pawley, a professor in Purdue’s School of Engineering Education, said of Deery’s bill. “It’s troubling that something like this is coming from someone with so much experience on our campus. … This is a disaster waiting to happen for Purdue and disaster for our state’s universities.”

Here’s where things stood on SB 202, heading into that hearing.