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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMitch Daniels Sought To Censor Public Universities, Professors
INDIANAPOLIS Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels pledged to promote academic freedom when he became president of Purdue University in January, but newly released emails show he attempted to eliminate what he considered liberal "propaganda" at Indiana's public universities while governor.
Emails obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request show Daniels requested that historian and anti-war activist Howard Zinn's writings be banned from classrooms and asked for a "cleanup" of college courses. In another exchange, the Republican talks about cutting funding for a program run by a local university professor who was one of his sharpest critics.
The success of those efforts remains unclear; Zinn's book, for example, is still used in some courses for aspiring teachers. But Daniels did launch an expansive push while governor to change what courses those hopeful teachers could take for credit at Indiana colleges. That effort is ongoing.
The emails are raising eyebrows about Daniels' appointment as president of a major research university just months after critics questioned his lack of academic credentials and his hiring by a board of trustees he appointed.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/16/mitch-daniels-censor_n_3607065.html
And from BusinessWeek: Harley Rider Mitch Daniels Was Afraid of Howard Zinn
Daniels' defense is now that he was only arguing that Zinn shouldn't be used in K-12 schools. (http://stateimpact.npr.org/indiana/2013/07/17/mitch-daniels-sticks-by-criticism-of-liberal-historian-disputes-ap-story/) Anyone who reads the emails can see that the Indiana Commission for Higher Education was being discussed as well as the Indiana Professional Standards Board, which is responsible for educator licensing and development. What he really didn't want was for potential teachers to be exposed to Howard Zinn in college.
ananda
(28,873 posts)... directing curriculum and practicing medicine without a license?
And, of course, now Daniels is president of Purdue, having been hired by trustees he appointed when he was governor.
It'll be interesting to see if this just blows over after his K-12 excuse, when that clearly was not what he was talking about.
tanyev
(42,596 posts)Auntie Bush
(17,528 posts)instead of Liberals. This is really scary!
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Mitch Daniels is an un-American stooge.