Almost a year after Indiana University contemplated severing the Kinsey Institute from the university, lawmakers and state officials in Indianapolis are urging the Legislature to completely defund IU.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and Comptroller Elise Nieshalla say they’re not convinced that IU has stopped spending public money on the institute, as required by law.
Next week, Nieshalla and several Republican lawmakers will attend a press conference in Indianapolis hosted by Purple for Parents United calling on the Legislature to fully defund the state’s largest university for allegedly “violating state law.”
Purple for Parents United is a nonprofit advocacy group that seeks to "protect children from harmful agendas" in education.
Why would activists want to defund the Kinsey Institute?
The Kinsey Institute is among the U.S.’ foremost sex and gender research institutions and holds one of the largest collections of materials related to sex, gender, and reproduction.
But the institute on IU Bloomington’s campus has long been controversial for its research on human sexuality. Critics also have repeated untrue claims that the institute experiments on children.
In 2023, state representative Lorissa Sweet authored a bill that passed along Republican Party lines barring the Kinsey Institute from receiving any state dollars.
Does the Kinsey Institute receive money from Indiana taxpayers?
After the state bill passed, IU initially planned to turn the Kinsey Institute into a nonprofit – a plan that received pushback from inside and outside of the institute.
Instead, IU trustees voted last March to use “accounting solutions” to keep the institute at IU while ensuring no state dollars went to it.
Over the past year, Rokita and Nieshalla’s offices have demanded detailed evidence that the institute isn’t receiving state funds.
IU maintains the Kinsey Institute pays for the building it occupies and has separate financial accounts – but Rokita and Nieshalla say the university has not “worked diligently and transparently to confirm compliance.”
Nieshalla will be joined at next week's press conference by state representatives Craig Haggard and Lorissa Sweet and former representative Cindy Noe.
Can Indiana's Legislature completely defund IU?
Possibly, but it’s unlikely. IU’s state appropriations are set by the General Assembly, not the comptroller.
While states aren’t required by law to support public universities, legislatures in all 50 U.S. states fund their public colleges each year.
IU gets less than 20% of its revenue from state appropriations, but taxpayer dollars still play a vital role in funding IU’s operations.
Given IU’s positive economic impact to the state (the IU system is one of the top 10 employers in Indiana) and a centuries-long history of state funding, it’s unlikely that a majority of lawmakers in either the state House or Senate would support efforts to strip the university of its state appropriations.
Reach Brian Rosenzweig atbrian@heraldt.com.