Episode 92: On the Front Line of the War for Academic Freedom
Guest: David McDonald - President, Indiana University Bloomington Chapter, American Association of University Professors
https://folklore.indiana.edu/about/faculty/mcdonald-david.html
Welcome to the HoosLeft Podcast, a show about Indiana politics, history, and culture from an unapologetically leftist perspective. My name is Scott Aaron Rogers, and I’m recording from Bloomington, where it’s move-in week on our state’s flagship university campus.
Wide-eyed freshmen curiously navigate their new surroundings, and - in many cases - their first taste of independence. Local businesses welcome the return of their customer base. The hopeful excitement of a new football season fills the air with electricity. But just below the surface, a battle for the very soul of our state’s institutions of higher learning is being fought.
The Trump regime, the Braun administration, and university leadership alike are increasingly restricting academic and expressive freedom on the state’s college campuses - public and private alike. Though this process has picked up steam since this January’s inaugurations, it is part of a larger right-wing crackdown on learning since 2021 and a continued evolution of a greater reactionary backlash against education that has persisted in this country since at least the 1950’s.
The current battle in this war for our minds began in the aftermath of 2020’s historic Black Lives Matter protests when far-right operatives like Christopher Rufo coalesced around “woke ideology” in education and business as the the boogeyman du jour. Rhetoric and fear-mongering gave way to legislation and policy, with state legislators picking up the mantle and imposing their retrograde views on the academy.
From the elimination of DEI programs to the erosion of tenure protection; from the diminution of shared governance to the trampling of free speech rights; from stacking the Board of Trustees with lackeys to posting snipers on campus rooftops, liberally tossing around antisemitism accusations and arresting faculty members, Hoosier Republicans and their hatchet-men (and women) are well down the road to complete control of our state’s university systems.
But not if the educators can help it.
The American Association of University Professors “advances academic freedom and shared governance, defines professional values and standards, promotes the economic security of those who teach and research in higher education, organizes to make these goals a reality, and ensures high education’s contribution to the common good.”
“The Bloomington Chapter has pursued the national mission at Indiana University for over a century,” and Executive Committee President David McDonald has been on the front line of the war for academic freedom.
A professor of folklore and ethnomusicology by trade, he found himself at the center of this battle when, in April of 2024, he was arrested during a peaceful protest against Israel’s war on Gaza and subsequently handed a one-year ban from campus. The charges and the ban were later dismissed, but the fight against administrative overreach continues.
McDonald is my guest this week and, in the following conversation, we’ll talk about the role of the AAUP, the importance of tenure protection, and the many ways this bulwark has been chipped at on Indiana’s campuses. We’ll look at the attacks coming from university administration as well from the state legislature and governor’s office, discussing what effects they have on his and his colleagues’ teaching and research, as well as the consequences for students and alumni.
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Now, here is my conversation with Dr. David McDonald.
Things We Talked About:
What is AAUP? https://www.aaup.org/about
What are “Right to Work” Laws? https://aflcio.org/issues/right-work
What is Tenure? https://www.aaup.org/tenure
McDonald’s Curriculum Vitae: https://folklore.indiana.edu/documents/profiles/mcdonald-dave-cv-may-2025.pdf
The whittling of tenure protections at Indiana universities: https://www.npr.org/2024/03/21/1239991734/indiana-universities-can-revoke-tenure-if-profs-dont-foster-intellectual-diversi
PSC event with activist Miko Peled: https://www.idsnews.com/article/2023/11/palestine-solidarity-committee-israel-jewish-event-iu-professor
IU sanctions Professor Sinno for his role in event: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/shared-governance/2024/01/11/indiana-u-sanctions-professor-supporting-pro
Eskenazi Museum cancels Palestinian artist: https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/iu-eskenazi-art-museum-cancels-palestinian-artists-exhibition
IU cracks down on pro-Palestine encampment: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/1/how-a-gaza-protest-at-indiana-university-became-a-battle-for-free-speech
IU suspends Palestine Solidarity Committee entirely: https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/iu-suspends-palestine-solidarity-committee-says-its-a-substantial-risk-to-campus
SEA 202 “Intellectual Diversity” law: https://www.ipm.org/2024-08-28/indianas-intellectual-diversity-and-tenure-law-into-effect-this-school-year
Legislator leaves language “intentionally vague” https://www.chronicle.com/article/changing-the-course
ACLU sues IU, Purdue over SEA 202: https://www.aclu-in.org/en/press-releases/aclu-indiana-sues-over-sea-202-arguing-law-violates-professors-free-speech-rights
Florida standards teach slavery had some positives: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-florida-standards-teach-black-people-benefited-slavery-taught-usef-rcna95418
The evolving purpose of higher education: https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-day-the-purpose-of-college-changed/
Germanic Studies professor sanctioned for violating ‘intellectual diversity’ law: https://www.ipm.org/news/2025-08-14/iu-professor-ben-robinson-sanctioned-for-violating-intellectual-diversity-law
Gordon Gee guts WVU: https://newrepublic.com/article/176202/west-virginia-university-higher-education-enrollment-cliff-cuts
Whitten hire “tortuous and flawed” https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/10/18/professor-questions-indiana-university-presidential-search
Experts say Whitten plagiarized her dissertation: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2025/08/12/what-happens-when-students-plagiarize-indiana-university-president-pamela-whitten-academic-honesty/85561274007/
Whitten controversy at Kennesaw: https://theksusentinel.com/2019/04/15/ksunited-leader-says-whitten-refuses-to-publicly-condemn-racism/
…and previously at UGA: https://theksusentinel.com/2019/06/17/whitten-allegedly-participated-in-faculty-intimidation-at-uga/
Education provisions snuck into budget bill: https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2025/05/02/indiana-budget-bill-curbs-university-faculty-power-ties-tenure-to-new-productivity-reviews/
Braun ousts IU trustees, installs loyalists: https://www.wfyi.org/news/articles/iu-trustees-removed-governor-mike-braun-new-law
The decline of shared governance in higher ed: https://www.kckcc.edu/files/docs/ejournal/volume-three/number-two-oct-2009/the-decline-of-shared-governance-in-higher-education.pdf
Indiana universities to cut or consolidate hundreds of programs: https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2025/07/01/indiana-colleges-cut-hundreds-of-low-enrollment-degree-programs-ahead-of-state-mandate/
IU Grad Workers call for alumni to withhold donations: https://indianagradworkers.org/news/withhold-your-donations-to-iu-a-statement-to-donors
Once again, that was Dr. David McDonald, professor of folklore and ethnomusicology at IU, and Bloomington chapter president of the American Association of University Professors.
As an alumnus and IU supporter, the attacks on my alma mater’s independence and academic freedom both horrify and disappoint. Students, faculty, grads, and boosters alike must come together and forcefully demand the expulsion of President Pamela Whitten, the installation of a new and independent Board of Trustees, and a return to shared governance at ALL of Indiana’s public colleges and universities lest these institutions be tarnished for a generation. I have a lot more thoughts on this subject and, time permitting, I hope to push out an essay on the topic in the next week.
But for now, I’ll let you go. Come see me this weekend on Project Next Media network’s YouTube, FaceBook Live, and Twitch streams, where I host HoosLeft This Week, Indiana’s most thorough Sunday morning news and politics talk show. Check it out live if you get a chance - it’s a lot of fun, if you can call following the news in this timeline fun. I bring together a diverse group of panelists from the democratic socialist left to never-Trump conservatives and we look at the week’s headlines from around Indiana and beyond. We’ll also take time to examine one big thing, a different deep dive every week. I hope to see you there in the comments, but if you can’t make it live, the program will be available as a podcast Sunday afternoon.
Thanks again to Professor McDonald for his time and his dedication to his students, to the pursuit of truth, and to academic freedom. His latest book project, Festival Activism, is out on October 7. Check it out. I’ll also ask one last time for you to check out a paid subscription at HoosLeft.US, where you’ll find my entire archive. I rely solely on the generosity of kind patrons like you to make this information available for free to everybody. In addition to the website, you can find me on Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads at HoosLeft.US and on Facebook, X, TikTok, Mastodon, and YouTube at HoosLeft. Direct message me at any of those sites with feedback, tips, ideas, and concern or email me at scott@hoosleft.us. Finally, please forward the show to a friend and have them pass it on. Let’s keep building this project - and a truly democratic state - one conversation at a time. Until the next one, this has been the HoosLeft podcast. I’m Scott Aaron Rogers. Love each other, Indiana.
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