IU lecturer disciplined for ‘white supremacy’ lesson fights for job

An Indiana University social work lecturer sanctioned for allegedly violating Indiana’s “intellectual diversity” law says she is filing an appeal after the school did not renew her contract.

Jessica Adams, a full-time lecturer on IU’s Bloomington campus, found herself in trouble in September when a student said she used a graphic identifying “Make America Great Again” as an example of covert white supremacy in her class on diversity, human rights and social justice.

A student reported the lesson to U.S. Sen. Jim Banks as a potential violation of Indiana’s “intellectual diversity” law.

The law requires faculty at publicly funded universities to promote “free inquiry, free expression and intellectual diversity.”

Students and staff can report perceived violations for review, which may result in tenure denials, discipline or termination.

Adams said Banks referred the complaint to university officials, who removed her from the classroom in October.

The university then sanctioned and notified Adams it was reviewing her contract, but allowed her to return to the classroom, under the condition she record all lectures, Adams said.

“I thought (the recordings were) demonstrating I am actually a good instructor,” she said. “They still chose to look for every tiny thing that they could try to hold against me.”

In May, Adams learned the university would not renew her contract when it ends June 30.

Adams said she intends to appeal the decision, as well as her sanction and employee improvement plan. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression is advocating on her behalf.

Mark Bode, a spokesperson for Indiana University, told the Indiana Capital Chronicle the university does not comment on personnel matters.

“This termination is an attack not only on Jessica Adams, but on students’ right to learn honestly about historical inequality and the impacts that still has today,” Russ Skiba, cofounder of the University Alliance for Racial Justice, said in a statement. “Social justice is not a fringe concept in the field of social work. It is a cord professional value.”

The group is concerned that Adams’s termination “reflects a broader pattern of institutional over-compliance and political pressure affecting higher education in Indiana.”

Adams defends her lesson

Adams said she shared the graphic with her “Diversity, Social Justice and Human Rights” class to show examples of overt and covert white supremacy for a lesson on structural racism.

A course module on the social work profession’s grand challenge of eliminating racism mentioned the term white supremacy, Adams said, so she found a graphic with examples from daily life.

The graphic, which Adams said is widely used in lessons on structural racism, referenced police brutality, red lining, micro-aggressions and celebration of Columbus Day as forms of covert white supremacy.

The complaint singled out the “Make America Great Again” slogan, which appeared above police brutality in the graphic. Adams said the student interpreted the word placement to mean she believed the slogan to be worse, a claim she denies.

“That’s not what the graphic says,” she said. “That’s not what I was teaching.”

Adams said university officials gave preference to the student’s interpretation in their determination she violated Indiana’s intellectual diversity law, but she disagrees.

“A clear point in the law says that if you are teaching within your discipline, within your profession, ideas or concepts or values that are central to your profession then those are topics you’re allowed to teach,” she said.

“The social work profession has a clear goal of eliminating racism and promoting a variety of types of justice, including racial justice.”

This story has been updated to clarify FIRE’s relationship with Adams.