The Uncertain Future of the Historic Kinsey Institute

The future of Indiana University’s historic Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction remains uncertain as the university’s board of trustees delays a vote to separate themselves from the institution. For 75 years, the Kinsey Institute was an integral part of the University of Indiana, famous the world over for their study of human sexuality. 

It should come as a shock to no one that the vote comes after state lawmakers blocked public funding for the institute. The Kinsey Institute has long been a target for conservative culture warriors, even going back to the organization’s founding in the 1940s. The Kinsey Institute and the research of its founder, Alfred Kinsey, revolutionized the academic fields of sexology and human sexuality, topics that are still considered taboo.

However, the threat of defunding turned into a reality earlier this year after freshman Republican lawmaker Lorissa Sweet rammed through an amendment cutting any state funds from going to the institute. Sweet repeated baseless conspiracy theories that Kinsey researched have been conducting sexual experiments on children. Sweet has continued to falsely accuse the Institute of harboring child predators, a new tactic of the alt-right to demonize the LGBTQ+ community and their allies. 

Despite the claims of the Kinsey Institute’s malfeasance being fabricated, the Indiana legislature went ahead and approved the amendment prohibiting state funds from going to the institute. Most of the Kinsey Institute’s money comes from grants, receiving about $2 million a year from the university. Although IU says the financial impact from the state law is negligible, the university has proposed breaking away from the Kinsey Institute. If this were to happen, the institute would become a nonprofit, handling administrative details for the center without university money, all while the Kinsey collections would remain at IU. 

The President of the University of Indiana, Pamela Whitten, released a statement before announcing the delay. “I look forward to our collaboration as we ensure that the Kinsey Institute continues as a beacon of academic freedom at IU for decades to come,” Whitten says. 

The proposed separation has researchers and supporters of the Kinsey Institute worried. There is concern that turning the institute into a separate entity would make it more vulnerable to political attacks looking to undermine its research. Furthermore, the potential loss of grant funding and control over the management of the institute’s valuable collection of arts and artifacts could further cripple the research center economically.

The threat to the Kinsey Institute has been met with public outcry from university faculty, students and the wider community. One online petition lobbying the university to maintain its relationship with the Kinsey Institute gathered over 7,000 signatures ahead of the scheduled vote.  

Jennifer Bass, the former communications director at the Kinsey Institute, created the petition and says that it should send a message to the board of trustees that the plan to divorce the institute from the university is short-sighted. Supporters have called out law-makers’ blatant homophobia and assault on academic freedom, in hopes of swaying the university. However, even with mounting support for the institution, the future of this historic research center remains uncertain as it lies in the hands of the University of Indiana’s Board of Trustees. 

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