A professor who showed a graphic labeling the “Make America Great Again” slogan as covert white supremacy has been removed from teaching a class under a new Indiana law meant to foster “intellectual diversity.”
The professor’s lesson came to light after an Indiana University student filed a complaint with a U.S. senator, Jim Banks, a staunch ally of President Trump. The senator then contacted the campus.
The graphic is a widely used illustration that shows a pyramid with examples of statements and behavior that might be considered overt or covert white supremacy.
The senator’s intervention led the university’s School of Social Work to suspend the professor, Jessica Adams, from teaching the class, called “Diversity, Human Rights and Social Justice.” Ms. Adams said the intent of the graphic had been misinterpreted.
Ms. Adams, a full-time social work lecturer, is currently teaching three other classes while awaiting the outcome of an investigation that will determine whether further disciplinary action is taken against her or whether her position teaching the class would be reinstated.
In an interview, Ms. Adams said that she worried her job might be in jeopardy. But she said she was speaking publicly nonetheless because “I feel this is an important issue to talk about — censorship, stifling of academic freedom and this real overreach through this legislation.”
Kalea Benner, the Indiana University dean of social work who suspended Ms. Adams last month, did not return emails seeking comment.
The university released a statement saying that it was “committed to academic freedom, following policies that uphold due process for faculty and provide a framework to best serve our students.” It added that the university “cannot comment on individual personnel matters.”
In a statement released by his office, Mr. Banks applauded the removal of Ms. Adams from the classroom.
“At least one student in the classroom was uncomfortable, and I’m sure there are more,” he said. “This type of hateful rhetoric has no place in the classroom.”
Other Indiana professors argue that the complaint against Ms. Adams, filed under a new state law adopted last year that requires intellectual diversity at state educational institutions, reflects efforts by university officials to conform to the Trump administration’s priorities.
The law defines intellectual diversity as “multiple, divergent and varied scholarly perspectives on an extensive range of public policy issues.” It requires institutions to evaluate faculty members on whether they foster a campus culture open to free inquiry and expression, introduce students to a variety of perspectives and avoid talking about their personal views unrelated to coursework.
In a news conference last week, the American Association of University Professors denounced the use of the new law to punish and stifle faculty members, along with the closure of the university’s diversity offices, firing of diversity employees and recent actions by the I.U. administration against the Indiana Daily Student, the campus newspaper.
Maria Bucur, a professor of East European history who serves as an officer of Indiana’s A.A.U.P. chapter, said the university administration “has lost touch with what its mission is and what’s important.”
Ms. Adams said her class, a graduate-level course with 24 students, included discussion of racism because it often comes up in social work, a profession that has embraced the idea of social justice.
“We recognize that white supremacy is the ideology that emboldens racist behavior,” Ms. Adams said. She uses the graphic, a pyramid that lists several dozen statements or actions, to illustrate how some forms of white supremacy are overt but others might be covert and “part of our daily lives that we don’t really consider.”
Items on the list include “not challenging racist jokes,” statements such as “don’t blame me, I never owned slaves,” and actions including “police brutality.” The graphic, Ms. Adams said, is used in other social work classes within the Indiana University system.
It was not the first time the graphic, developed about 20 years ago by a Colorado organization promoting nonviolence and adapted over the years, generated controversy in academia.
Ms. Adams said that none of her students had come forward to her to complain about the graphic or the class presentation, nor did the student who notified Mr. Banks officially file a complaint with the university. Instead, the dean of social work is listed as the complainant based on the communication from Mr. Banks, Ms. Adams said.
Ms. Adams said the dean had told her that the complaining student was concerned that the statement “Make America Great Again” was listed high up on the pyramid, above an entry for police violence, suggesting it was worse. Ms. Adams said the position of the pyramid’s entries were not in any particular order.
Stephanie Saul reports on colleges and universities, with a recent focus on the dramatic changes in college admissions and the debate around diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education.
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