BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WDRB) -- Even though top officials at Indiana University call Eric Rasmusen's statements bigoted, they can't and won't fire the business professor because it's his First Amendment right to express those views.
But the university isn't keeping quiet about it.
Several tweets were brought into question by social media users, but one in particular caught the attention of the university: Rasmusen posted an article titled "Are Women Destroying Academia? Probably" and used a quote from the piece that suggested women are inferior to men.
“geniuses are overwhelmingly male because they combine outlier high IQ with moderately low Agreeableness and moderately low Conscientiousness.” https://t.co/cyfBX1ECSc
— Eric Rasmusen (@erasmuse) November 7, 2019
"There are a lot of people who don't agree with these ideas, and we're saying as an institution that we don't either," IU Spokesman Chuck Carney said.
IU has come out against the professor. The provost released a statement deeming Rasmusen's views "stunningly ignorant and more consistent with someone who lived in the 18th century than the 21st."
"We can't fire him for simply expressing views," Carney said. "That's something that is protected under the Constitution. It's protected for all of us here on this campus. We take free speech very seriously here at IU."
IU publicly stated it can't and won't fire Rasmusen. The provost even suggested she wouldn't, if possible, because of what the First Amendment means.
Pictured: the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., on Nov. 21, 2019. (WDRB/file).
"Everybody has a right to express their opinions, and some of those opinions are hurtful to others" said Sophia Metzer, a student at IU. "But, at the end of the day, if you fire someone for expressing their views, it opens up this whole flood gate."
A group of students in the business college called "Women in Business" are trying to spin this in a positive light even though they disagree with Rasmussen's views. The group has even designed sweatshirts that read "female genius."
That is how they plan to positively fight back against the professor's statements, by using their First Amendment right as well.
"We're kind of using this positive message to create a more positive movement and rise above this whole situation," said Mandy Novicoff a student at IU.
Rasmusen released a lengthy statement on his website, one that claimed the university wasn't discouraging bias, rather encouraging it. While the university won't punish or fire him, it's giving students the option to opt out of his class and forcing him to grade assignments submitted anonymously:
- No student will be forced to take a class from Professor Rasmunsen. The Kelley School will provide alternatives to Professor Rasmunsen's classes;
- Professor Rasmunsen will use double-blind grading on assignments. If there are components of grading that cannot be subject to a double-blind procedure, the Kelley School will have another faculty member ensure that the grades are not subject to Professor Rasmunsen's prejudices.
"We've taken measures to make sure that students don't feel like any explicitly stated bias on Twitter is creeping into the classroom, and we don't feel like that will happen with this situation," Carney said.
Many students and faculty sharing their outrage on social media, but some students and the university hope it will teach a valuable lesson.
“Everybody has a right to express their opinions, and some of those opinions are hurtful to others," said IU student Sophia Metzter. "But, at the end of the day, if you fire someone for expressing their views, it opens up this whole flood gate.”
“You can have these views, you can express them if you want, but it’s not going to come unchallenged," said Carney. "...this is not something that we value at IU, in fact, we value just the opposite.”
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