Indiana blocks world’s top sex research center from state funds: ‘a scary moment for academic freedom’

[cpwill]

That partisanship is the problem, so stop defending it.

That's called "particapatory self governance", and while it has a LOT of issues (see: U.S. 2024, 2020, 2016 election cycles), the other options thus far explored by human kind have proven worse.

 

[LittleNipper]

Yeah, no need to study impotence, vaginal dryness, masturbation, premature ejaculation and other aspects of a shared human experience that might cause depression or great joy.

Look on the liberal side ---- they wont need an abortion... That should make someone happy!

 

[CLAX1911]

It is the religious conservatives that you support who are the totalitarians.

You're exactly like those religious conservatives. They want to convert gay kids and you want to transition gay kids you're equally as homophobic.

 

[noonereal]

"The future of the Kinsey Institute, the world’s premier sex research center, is in limbo. Last April, lawmakers in Indiana’s Republican-dominated state legislature voted to block the Kinsey Institute from receiving any state funds through Indiana University (IU), which houses the institute. ...The outcome of the skirmish over the Kinsey Institute and Indiana University will signal whether conservative lawmakers can dictate the bounds of academic research into human sexuality, at a time when far-right politicians are rushing to exert unprecedented control over what is taught in schools and universities around the country.

The Kinsey Institute’s research into sex and sexuality has ignited controversy for decades, but this latest battle places it at the white-hot center of a national debate over schools, sexuality, and gender. Nationwide, hundreds of bills have been introduced in recent years aiming to ban certain topics from K-12 schools and universities. Since last year, instruction on issues relating to sex and gender has topped the rightwing’s target list. But the primary goal of Kinsey Institute, unlike many of the targets of those bills, is research. Its scholars investigate issues like sexual assault, disability and sexual health, and the history of human sexuality.

...An entirely different threat to Kinsey Institute researchers, and the rest of the university’s faculty, is on the horizon: the state legislature last week advanced a bill that hands university board of trustees the power to evaluate tenure appointments every five years for “criteria related to free inquiry, free expression, and intellectual diversity” – effectively erasing the point of tenure.

Indiana isn’t alone – in 2023, at least six states introduced nine bills to undermine tenure, according to the American Association of University Professors. Tenure has long been believed to be essential to academic freedom, since it allows higher-education faculty to pursue potentially controversial work without fear of repercussions."

Link

The Republicans' use of government to curtail or eliminate academic freedom is growing and threatens the pursuit of knowledge that improves people's lives.

What a great idea! Make belive people don't have sex. Maybe we should start stoning women who have sex out of wedlock ?
I think we all know this is coming.

 

[Paradoxical]

Yeah, no need to study impotence, vaginal dryness, masturbation, premature ejaculation and other aspects of a shared human experience that might cause depression or great joy.

You knock yourself out. Just don't insist I pay for it.

 

[Lisa]

You knock yourself out. Just don't insist I pay for it.

We all pay for increasing our knowledge via research because we all benefit from that information.

Look on the liberal side ---- they wont need an abortion... That should make someone happy!

LGBTQ people are among the least likely to even have an abortion but still the conservative religious bigots have a problem with their existence. Maybe they should instead blame their omniscient and omnipotent god who made people LGBTQ.

Oh wait, their god doesn't exist.

 

[mrjurrs]

Academic freedom doesn’t mean the government hast to fund your research projects.

What does academic freedom mean to you?

 

[Nickyjo]

You knock yourself out. Just don't insist I pay for it.

Why not? Taxes pay for research on other aspects of the human condition.

 

[Paradoxical]

Why not? Taxes pay for research on other aspects of the human condition.

Because I don't want to and don't like liberals spending my money on nonsense is why. Leave that stuff to private industry. Government nannies are not needed.

 

[Lisa]

Because I don't want to and don't like liberals spending my money on nonsense is why. Leave that stuff to private industry. Government nannies are not needed.

You are part of a very interdependent society that befits from that increased knowledge, so you don't have a choice.

What makes you think that researchers are all liberals?

 

[CLAX1911]

You are part of a very interdependent society that befits from that increased knowledge, so you don't have a choice.

But why put it in the hands absolute most broken corrupt organization in the country? What you object if say the Catholic Church was in charge of who gets funding regarding academics?

What makes you think that researchers are all liberals?

Because it's the government in charge of it. And they prefer people that worship them.

You do understand if you went to public school you can talk to the government is the hero in your story that's the whole point of it.

 

[Lisa]

But why put it in the hands absolute most broken corrupt organization in the country? What you object if say the Catholic Church was in charge of who gets funding regarding academics?

The seperation of church and state says they have no say in how taxpayer dollars are spent, especially when they do not pay taxes.

Because it's the government in charge of it. And they prefer people that worship them.

You do understand if you went to public school you can talk to the government is the hero in your story that's the whole point of it.

Nobody worships the government. I have a minor in political philosophy and taught poli-sci in college for one semester.

 

[CLAX1911]

The seperation of church and state says they have no say in how taxpayer dollars are spent, especially when they do not pay taxes.

So you don't answer the question I asked because you know the answer. Instead you're pontificate about something completely unrelated.

Nobody worships the government.

When you feel like there's the only reason that you have the ability to make money that's placing them in godlike territory you may not notice that but I do

I have a minor in political philosophy and taught poli-sci in college for one semester.

So you've been brainwashed by the most absolutely Marxist people there are in the country?

This takes away from any credibility you. have I have eyes and can see I don't need to pay someone hundreds of thousands of dollars to point out things that I can look at for myself.

Is this why you tell me and think that it works that things that clearly exist and can be seen by everyone somehow don't exist?

 

[Scooter]

The way this gets fixed is that Indiana gets denied FAFSA funds until their decision changes.

I know something which might possibly solve their financial problems.

 

[samiam5211]

What is the world's top sex researcher doing in Indiania anyway?

 

[CLAX1911]

What is the world's top sex researcher doing in Indiania anyway?

Researching sex I presume.

 

[Pippi Longstock]

I watched a documentary on the Kinsey Institute what they tried to prove is that children as young as months old are able to enjoy sex. It was disgusting. They did testing on children who were from months old to a couple of years.

 

[CLAX1911]

I watched a documentary on the Kinsey Institute what they tried to prove is that children as young as months old are able to enjoy sex. It was disgusting. They did testing on children who were from months old to a couple of years.

Also a lot of Kinsey's work is questionable.

 

[multivita-man]

Academic freedom doesn’t mean the government hast to fund your research projects.

It doesn't, but when the decision to fund or not is motivated by ideological concerns rather than academic concerns, that's problematic. You can still maintain that government isn't obligated to fund the research. All I ask is that if that's your position, own it. Admit that you're blocking academic research for political reasons.

 

[CLAX1911]

It doesn't, but when the decision to fund or not is motivated by ideological concerns rather than academic concerns, that's problematic. You can still maintain that government isn't obligated to fund the research. All I ask is that if that's your position, own it. Admit that you're blocking academic research for political reasons.

Disagree the public can choose not to fund something that doesn't matter why they're not funding it it can be because I don't like the haircuts that the researchers have.

The money that's going to funding these things belongs to the public the government is their servant and must do what they're told.

So even if my reasons are political if I can get events enough of the public to be against something to put enough pressure on the government to force them to do their job then that's how it works.

If they're going to say what we're just going to give money to them anyway and "**** you master" they're not going to hold the government position very long

 

[samiam5211]

So even if my reasons are political if I can get events enough of the public to be against something to put enough pressure on the government to force them to do their job then that's how it works.

This is one of the weaknesses of a system where the public has influence over it's leaders.

The public can demand they do things for political reasons. Which isn't something that should be factored into government decisions.

 

[multivita-man]

Disagree the public can choose not to fund something that doesn't matter why they're not funding it it can be because I don't like the haircuts that the researchers have.

Indeed they can, but call it what it is: ideologically-motivated censorship. It's the same with bans on stem-cell research. There's nothing in the constitution that requires funding of stem-cell research, but deliberately banning it is motivated by ideological and political concerns, not anything in the public interest per se.

 

[CLAX1911]

This is one of the weaknesses of a system where the public has influence over it's leaders.

That's every system except for a dictatorship. So the weakness of our system is dead are supreme leader isn't a god king that dictates to the people what they must fund?

I consider that as strength. And really leaders only have influence over the people for a short amount of time before they revolt.

The public can demand they do things for political reasons. Which isn't something that should be factored into government decisions.

Normally when you set up this kind of system it results in famine or genocide it's not a good idea.

The government should always be the servant of the people and the people be its master. I don't want to live in North Korea.

 

[samiam5211]

That's every system except for a dictatorship. So the weakness of our system is dead are supreme leader isn't a god king that dictates to the people what they must fund?

I consider that as strength. And really leaders only have influence over the people for a short amount of time before they revolt.

Normally when you set up this kind of system it results in famine or genocide it's not a good idea.

The government should always be the servant of the people and the people be its master. I don't want to live in North Korea.

I'm really saying that people who want the government to do things for political reasons should be ashamed of themselves, and are the group of people who are usually responsible when democracies fail.

 

[Pippi Longstock]

Also a lot of Kinsey's work is questionable.

He used anonymous sources to try to prove his theory on child sexuality to say the least he covered up pedophiles and encouraged it.