Attention: IUPUI

This case isn't going away anytime soon.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) notes in a release dated 8 July 2008:

"Two months ago, in the face of withering public criticism, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) revoked its original finding that student-employee Keith John Sampson had committed racial harassment by reading a book at work that celebrated the defeat of the Ku Klux Klan in a 1924 street brawl. Now, IUPUI is claiming that Sampson was in fact punished for some other behavior, but the school refuses to reveal any details of this alleged conduct. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is calling on IUPUI to either reveal and prove this alleged offense or stop publicly smearing its own student.

"'This looks like a classic example of a college making things worse in an unprincipled attempt to save face,' FIRE Vice President Robert Shibley said. 'IUPUI's own letters to Sampson made clear that his reading a book about the Ku Klux Klan was the problem, and the university claims to have completely exonerated him of all charges. If so, why are its spokespeople now telling The Wall Street Journal that the problem was really some other mysterious conduct that the university will not reveal to anyone, including Sampson himself?'"

It's time. Past time! for IUPUI to come clean. Tell that to Charles R. Bantz, Chancellor, Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis: 317‑274-4417; cbantz@iupui.edu.