State University in Indiana Offers 'Defund the Police' Class

A state university in Indiana is promoting a class offering titled "Defund the Police? Race, Policing, and Criminal Justice Reform."

"This class will explore the complex history of policing in America from early slave patrols through the civil rights era protest responses to modern-day policing, as part of a broader examination of the explosion of the American criminal justice system," IUPUI Director of Student Services Nicole Amonette wrote in an email to students, according to screenshots reported by Campus Reform.

IUPUI is the combined state university of Indiana University and Purdue University campuses in Indianapolis.

"We will examine evidence of racial disparities in criminal justice outcomes for African Americans, LatinX, and other minoritized groups," Amonette's email continued. "We will explicitly consider the current roles and functions of the police, use of force policies, and how police discretion is and should be used. We will also review the marked expansion of prisons and jails over the past four decades.

"Finally, we will examine reforms to simultaneously reduce the size and scope of our criminal justice system and increase public safety, as well as policing reforms to maximize justice for all who live in America, while maintaining public safety."

"Defund the police" has been a social injustice cry from liberal activists seeking to diminish the influence of policing in America by stripping it of funding resources.

The official title of the class is "Race, Policing and Criminal Justice Reform," IUPUI Director of Faculty and Academic Services Denise Scroggins told Campus Reform, saying "Defund the Police" was dropped because "we had to shorten it."

IUPUI Media and Public Affairs student Charity Adebayo told Campus Reform that she considers herself a "right-winger," but she wants to take the course to hear the other side of the political policy argument.

"I hope I can take it next semester so I can be more enlightened, just, you know, be more aware about these things, you know, that I'm jumping to conclusions about," she told Campus Reform.

"You know, right-wingers, we usually have a tendency to, when we hear things, you know, that are more leftist, we kind of shut it out. But, you know, I would never want to be in the position where I wasn't being listened to, so I don't want to do that with the left."

Indiana has historically been a red state in presidential elections, but its cities like Indianapolis do lean left. Also, most college campuses are heavily influenced by liberal activism, President Donald Trump has lamented.

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