INDIANAPOLIS ― In the Indiana higher education community, a world meant to promote free thinking and debate, a seemingly lower-level question of how university officials weigh in on hot-button issues is being pondered.
Indiana University President Michael McRobbie took the unusual step last week of throwing IU’s official support behind an effort to keep the state’s ban on gay marriage out of the constitution.
“Equality, compassion and respect for individuals have long been the bedrock of Indiana University’s educational mission, and the lack of tolerance implicit in HJR 6 (the amendment) runs counters to IU’s deeply held values,” McRobbie said in a statement announcing the university’s stance.
Business leaders, lawmakers, veteran activists and many other people and organizations have been taking sides in the upcoming gay marriage battle. Supporters of amending the ban into the constitution say it is needed to prevent the courts from effectively legalizing gay marriage in Indiana, but opponents say the step would enshrine inequality in the state.
But the involvement of Indiana’s higher education community still is somewhat unusual. Purdue University President Mitch Daniels decided the state’s other flagship university would not be taking sides in the debate.
“Over the years, Purdue has traditionally declined to comment on social issues that have been contended in the public arena,” Purdue Vice President for Public Affairs Julie Griffith told the Lafayette Journal & Courier. “Any departure from this policy should be undertaken only after careful consultation with the university’s many and diverse stakeholders.”
Daniels drew attention to the role of leaders and politics last year when, as part of his high-profile selection as president, he announced that he would refrain from commenting on certain political issues. That vow, offered in the middle of the 2012 election cycle as he was rounding out his term as governor, has led to questions of how it is applied.
