A bronze sculpture of Alfred Kinsey, a sex researcher who founded Indiana University's branch of sex research, the Kinsey Institute, sits outside the institute's research facility, Tuesday, May 16, 2023, in Bloomington, Ind. BLOOMINGTON, Ind.
The Kinsey Institute, about 50 miles from Indianapolis on Indiana University's Bloomington campus, is named for Alfred Kinsey, a former professor who established the institute in 1947. He died in 1956. “We have child rapists in Indiana prisons right now, yet we’re willing to give Indiana University, Bloomington campus, over $400 million as they protect the legacy of this sexual predator,” said Republican state Rep. Lorissa Sweet, who on Feb. 22 proposed the amendment to prohibit the institute from state funding.Such accusations have lingered nearly since the Kinsey Institute’s inception 76 years ago, said Director Justin Garcia.
After the February vote, a new page requests support, such as posting on social media or donating and, where necessary,Professor Carolyn Halpern teaches her students about Kinsey in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, she said. When she heard about Indiana curtailing Kinsey Institute funding, she thought, “Here we go again.”
. Back then, when her husband John Bancroft was the director, attacks were frequently rooted in the same kind of misinformation about sex and health that the institute's research has helped dispel, Graham said.And that research, along with the work of other public colleges and universities, could be at risk as the Legislature uses funding to “dictate” what questions can be asked within a specific program, the institute's director said.
Garcia said about two-thirds of the institute's funding comes from grants and donations that are subject to change annually. The university would typically fund the rest.