The ACLU of Indiana filed an appeal to the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in its lawsuit against SEA 202, Indiana’s so-called “intellectual diversity” law.
The lawsuit, filed in September 2024, challenges the constitutionality of provisions of state law that require professors at state universities to “foster a culture of free inquiry, free expression, and intellectual diversity” and “expose students to scholarly works from a variety of political or ideological frameworks.” Professors who do not comply with these vague terms risk disciplinary action, including denial or revocation of tenure, demotion, and even termination.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are tenured faculty at Indiana University and Purdue University. In July, a district court judge dismissed the lawsuit on technical grounds but did not rule on the constitutionality of the law.
Stevie Pactor, ACLU of Indiana Senior Staff Attorney, issued the following statement:
“SEA 202 compels professors to speak and forces them to engage in self-censorship to avoid disciplinary action. We believe this is a clear violation of the free speech protections of the First Amendment and the guarantee of due process in the Fourteenth Amendment, and we will continue to fight to protect academic freedom in Indiana.”
The notice of appeal can be found here.
