by Jason M Kelly 5 years ago

Howard Zinn, Mitch Daniels, & Education in Indiana

A representative collection of online reports and responses to emails by Mitch Daniels about Howard Zinn,
Charles Little, education, reform, curricula, and academic freedom.

July 16

"Emails obtained by The Associated Press through a Freedom of Information Act request show Daniels took rare
steps during his second term as governor to eliminate what he considered liberal breeding grounds at Indiana's
public universities" -- Tom LoBianco, July 16, 4:50 pm

AP Exclusive: Emails show ex-Gov. Daniels sought to quash political

opposition in Ind. schools
INDIANAPOLIS - Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels pledged to promote academic
freedom, not stifle it, when he became president at Purdue U...

THEREPUBLIC

Tom LoBianco posts emails regarding Zinn in Indiana classroom and the audit of IU Professor Charles Little.

Tom LoBianco
@tomlobianco

Mitch Daniels emails on Zinn available here: apne.ws/15jG8Jiarles Little audit is available here:
apne.wsapne.ws/1bGAQMO

 @kfrancisco · 5 YEARS AGO

Copies of the email exchanges about Howard Zinn and Charles Little
Page 3 of 3

AP
 Page 1 of 2

Page
AP
2 of 2

"Ken Paulson, president of the First Amendment Center, said it’s not unusual for governors or mayors to
denounce art, music or popular culture. But he said he couldn’t find any other examples of governors trying to
censor political opponents." -- Stephanie Wang, July 16, 2013
 As governor, Mitch Daniels looked to censor academic writings and
courses
Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels pledged to promote academic freedom when he became president
of Purdue University in January, but newly released emails show he attempted to eliminate what he
considered liberal "propaganda" at Indiana's public universities while governor.
INDYSTAR

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on the story -- July 16, 2013

In E-Mails, Former Indiana Governor Wanted Scholars Silenced

Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., who was the governor of Indiana before he became
president of Purdue University, in January, sought to purge a l...

CHRONICLE

"As far as teacher licensing goes, I again will stand by my statement that there is need for a cleanup of what is
credit worthy in teaching of our professions." -- Mitch Daniels, July 16, 2013

Mitch Daniels statement to the Associated Press

In response to Associated Press' Tom LoBianco, Mitch Daniels released the following statement via
email Tuesday regarding emails he sent ...
JCONLINE

Mitch Daniels defends academic freedom amid criticism over emails

Mitch Daniels defends academic freedom amid criticism over emails The Howard Zinn history textbook,
which Mitch Daniels wanted to keep out of Indiana's K-12 classrooms, was meant to be controversial. It
was meant to pose a different viewpoint. It was meant to get A link to this page will be included in your
message.
INDYSTAR

Tosha Salyers
@ToshaSalyers

@MDoublestein #edreform is about quality teachers, accountability, closing achievement gap

@purduemitch great #edreformER of our time!

 5 YEARS AGO
 Nancy Fowler
@NanNfowle

@purduemitch Good for Mitch! Conservative views have been shut out of acedemia. Time for
balance

 5 YEARS AGO

JAN JACKMAN
@momtheresa4

@purduemitch Stand your ground Mitch! You are right!!!!

 5 YEARS AGO

cw
@cwitham5345

@purduemitch I want to applaud you on your stance against "history books" filled with liberally
slanted falsehoods being published Thanks

 5 YEARS AGO

July 17

Evan C. Smith
@Evan_C_Smith

Glad to hear @purduemitch is keeping #Purdue conservative, honest, and strong! #Purdue
#boilerup

 5 YEARS AGO

Zinn and the art of historical revisionism -- Lou Harry, July 17, 2013

Zinn and the art of historical revisionism

I was in high school when Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States"-the book at the
center of the recent Mitch Daniels dust...
IBJ

"Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, the president of Purdue University, should be fired. That’s a statement I don’t
make lightly." -- John K. Wilson, July 17, 2013, 8:24 am
 Daily Kos
Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, the president of Purdue University, should be
fired. That's a statement I don't make lightly. It's also a statement I don't make
because of Daniels' idiotic comments demeaning historian Howard Zinn.

DAILYKOS

John Tirman
@JohnTirman

Of course @purduemitch loathed Howard #Zinn. HZ upheld principles of fairness & equality that
Daniels undermined as guv. #Purdue: Fire him.

 5 YEARS AGO

Rev. James J. Lasher

@Rev_GhostShirt

@purduemitch Time to resign. Higher ED is no place for anti-intellectualism.

 5 YEARS AGO

Hayleigh Colombo
@hayleighcolombo

@purduemitch called the AP article "completely unfair and erroneous."

 5 YEARS AGO

Hayleigh Colombo
@hayleighcolombo

.@purduemitch: I wasn't even thinking about higher ed and I wasn't out to censor anyone.

 5 YEARS AGO

Hayleigh Colombo
@hayleighcolombo

. @purduemitch says he hasn't heard much reaction on campus but says he will. "Unfortunately I
won't get a chance to talk to everyone."

 5 YEARS AGO
 Hayleigh Colombo
@hayleighcolombo

.. @purduemitch: "If Howard Zinn had tenure at #Purdue, I would defend him & his rights not to
be dismissed for the nature of his work."

 5 YEARS AGO

Paul Hauser
@phauser

@hayleighcolombo @purduemitch "If Howard Zinn had tenure" What if he didn't have tenure?

 5 YEARS AGO

Toney
@largelyAweirdo

.@GovPenceIN, do you & @purduemitch call each other every AM to discuss what youre wearing
AND censoring? indy.st/12TBSODstaindystar

 5 YEARS AGO

"We’re looking forward to Purdue’s new degree program in American Exceptionalism Studies." -- Doktor
Zoom, July 17, 2013, 11:25 am

Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels Is Just Your Average Everyday

Book-Burning University President
The few times we ever gave former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels much thought,
he always seemed like a Scott Walker wannabe who was tryin...
DOKTOR ZOOM

"While Zinn was dead when Daniels sought to have his books no longer taught, another target of the governor
remains very much alive. He is Charles Little, a professor of education at Indiana University-Purdue University at
Indianapolis and a frequent critic of Daniels's education policies. In a 009 e-mail, the AP reported, Daniels asked
that Little's program be audited and potentially cut from receiving state funds. -- Scott Jaschik, July 17, 2013

E-mails reveal that Mitch Daniels, as governor, tried to ban Howard

Zinn book | Inside Higher Ed
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/17/e-mails-reveal-mitch-daniels-
governor-tried-ban-howard-zinn-book

INSIDEHIGHERED
 Jenae Horn Blasdel
@MrsBlasdel

I love how democrats and IU grads are all worked up over @purduemitch

 5 YEARS AGO

Hayleigh Colombo
@hayleighcolombo

Higher ed expert on @purduemitch news: "If there are a group of faculty who want to make it a big
issue, they can make it difficult for him"

 5 YEARS AGO

Luke Tipton
@stipton82

@purduemitch "This terrible anti-American academic has finally passed away," seriously?
#disgusted

 5 YEARS AGO

Wabash Archivist
@WabashArchivist

@phauser @hayleighcolombo @purduemitch Agreed. Freedom of thought only if you are 18 years
or older.

 5 YEARS AGO
 @MrKinetik Love this cartoon of @purduemitch -- pic.twitter.com/kdZ9nuSWA8WA8

 THOM DAUGHERTY @THOMDAUGHERTY · 5 YEARS AGO

Stephanie Wang
@stephaniewang

Coming up for air. More from Mitch Daniels' presser today: He compared Zinn's work to
phrenology (tying characteristics to skull shape).

 5 YEARS AGO

Stephanie Wang
@stephaniewang

Mitch Daniels: "Here on a university campus anything goes. We rely on debate and we rely on, in
essence, the marketplace of ideas..."

 5 YEARS AGO
 History Is A Weapon
@hiawdotorg

Ex-governor @purduemitch worked to cut #howardzinn from #Indiana Curricula; Our response:
blog.historyisaweapon.com/post/557322172…comitchdaniels21Zinn#mitchdaniels #Zinn

 5 YEARS AGO

Jeremy Hatch
@naptownjeremy

@stephaniewang can a grown up cover @purduemitch ? Not sure you see the larger picture of head
of state dictating curriculum.

 5 YEARS AGO

John Russell
@JohnRussell99

@kggibs @stephaniewang @hayleighcolombo I'm still waiting to hear @purduemitch say exactly
what was inaccurate about either one.

 5 YEARS AGO

Jackie Flonassis
@flotisserie

Breaking: @purduemitch says whatever is politically convenient to protect his office. #censorship
#academicfreedom #opportunist

 5 YEARS AGO

Tom LoBianco's corrections to the story. -- July 17, 2013, 12:23 pm.

Correction: Daniels Censorship story

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - In a story July 17 about Purdue University President Mitch Daniels' efforts to keep
a book by historian Howard Zinn f...
AP

How Mitch Daniels Had It In for Howard Zinn

Elected officials and cabinet officers often don't make the best college presidents. They're used to
throwing their weight around (see La...
PROGRESSIVE

"The relative merits of Howard Zinn aren’t the point. Yes, it’s about academic freedom. But it’s also about
recognizing the difference between teaching a book and espousing a doctrine. It’s about respecting students as
thinkers, and faculty as craftspeople. Education isn’t just about transmitting content; it’s about developing the
critical skills that enable people to confront ideas with which they disagree and come away smarter." -- Matt
Reed, July 17, 2013

Of Armadillos and Marxists | Inside Higher Ed

http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-
dean/armadillos-and-marxists

INSIDEHIGHERED

July 18

Dan Krutka, PhD

@dankrutka

Paranoia & exaggeration of @ZinnEdProject's influence in schools by @purduemitch:

insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/1…s/sschat7/edchatchat #edchat

 5 YEARS AGO

Rob Burgess
@robaburg

The difference between @purduemitch and me: He wants to ban Howard Zinn and I would make
his work mandatory reading for students.

 5 YEARS AGO

Jackie Flonassis
@flotisserie

.@purduemitch is all for academic freedom, except when he's trying to censure K-12 TEACHER
DEVELOPMENT COURSES from the governor's office.

 5 YEARS AGO

Sam Wineburg
@samwineburg

Mitch Daniels uses my work to defend his shameless attempts to censor free speech. Shame!
purdue.edu/president/

 @Lehigh389 · 5 YEARS AGO

 Stephanie Wang
@stephaniewang

At 6:20 a.m. someone left me an expletive-laden voicemail about Mitch Daniels. Wow. How can
you live with that kind of blood pressure.

 5 YEARS AGO

Ted Boettner
@WVpolicywonk

Howard Ziinn challenges @purduemitch worldview. Zinn was a great teacher, as E Foner says
here. articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/01/op…010/feb/01/op…

 5 YEARS AGO

Daniels' attack on history book had roots in conservative push to overhaul teacher
training
INDIANAPOLIS - Three years ago, then-Gov. Mitch Daniels directed his education advisers to "disqualify
the propaganda" from courses used ...
WASHINGTONPOST

Democratic Rep. Charlie Brown of Gary said Thursday that the Purdue Board of Trustees needs to "seriously look
at asking him to step aside" -- July 15, 2013, 5:55 pm

Indiana rep seeks Daniels' resignation over emails

A former Indiana House Education Committee chairman says Purdue University President Mitch Daniels
should resign over emails showing the ...
WTHR

WTHR.com
@WTHRcom

Rep. Charlie Brown of Gary thinks @purduemitch should resign over the Zinn emails. Thoughts?
bit.ly/16MxIJy

 5 YEARS AGO

"Daniels' directive . . . was part of a broader conservative push to move the training of school teachers out of the
nation's teaching colleges. At the core of the effort are two beliefs: that traditional teacher training produces bad
teachers and that schools have been churning out political liberals and undercutting conservative beliefs." -- Tom
LoBianco, July 16, 2013, 6:45 pm.
 Daniels' attack on text part of conservative push
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Three years ago, then-Gov. Mitch Daniels directed his education advisers to
"disqualify the propaganda" from courses ...
AP

Purdue University to consider performance-based pay boost for Mitch

Daniels
Trustees today will consider boosting Purdue University President Mitch Daniels' pay based on his
performance during his first six months...
INDYSTAR

"I don’t think much of Zinn’s interpretation of US history, it’s true. But it’s an interpretation, which like any serious
work of history, chooses to emphasize certain themes and details in order to make a larger argument. I would be
unhappy if Zinn’s book were the only or even the main text in a high-school or college history class (as I
understand is sometimes the case). But chapters of it can be quite useful if contrasted with alternative
interpretations." -- Michael Kazin, July 18, 2013

What Mitch Daniels Doesn't Know about History

Michael Kazin's critique of Howard Zinn was cited by Purdue President Mitch
Daniels in response to the controversy over Gov. Daniels' ema...

GUEST BLOGGER

Frank Kolisek
@fkolisek

“@WTHRcom: Rep. Charlie Brown of Gary thinks @purduemitch should resign over the Zinn
emails. Thoughts? of course he does , duh

 5 YEARS AGO

July 19

In 2009, "then-Gov. Mitch Daniels had recently passed out to members of the Indiana Education Roundtable
copies of a book by Charles Murray, co-author of "The Bell Curve." The 994 book has been denounced in some
quarters as racist. One observer at the Roundtable meeting told me that former Gov. Jeb Bush, a guest at
the meeting, even flinched when he saw Murray's name on the book Daniels was touting. It's interesting to see
that the book, which argues that too many people go to college, was cited by the governor for changing the way
he views education. What does that mean for Purdue University?" -- Karen Francisco, July 19, 2013, 11:31 a.m.
 Mitch Daniels and 'Real Education'
Now seems like an opportune time to revisit an opinion piece I wrote in 2009. Then-Gov. Mitch Daniels
had recently passed out to members ...
KAREN FRANCISCO

julie ross
@bipolaroids

.@chronicle slams #HowardZinn's influential UShistory book. It's feared by @purduemitch +

StatusQuo-loving, lofty academics in ivory towers

 5 YEARS AGO

"I side with Daniels. A governor worth his educational salt should be calling out faculty members who cannot or
will not distinguish scholarship from propaganda, or who prefer to substitute simplistic storytelling for the
complexities of history. A governor has a responsibility to uphold academic standards as well as academic
freedom." -- Peter Wood, July 19, 2013

Why Mitch Daniels was right to blast Howard Zinn

The Associated Press broke a story on July 16 that Mitch Daniels, the president of Purdue University,
wrote e-mails while the governor of Indiana attacking the use of Howard Zinn's book, A People's
History of the United States, as "a truly execrable, anti-factual piece of disinformation that misstates
American history on every page."
INDYSTAR

Hayleigh Colombo
@hayleighcolombo

#Purdue's legal counsel just told me that Mitch Daniels' overall performance incentive metrics
aren't finalized yet. #purduebot

 5 YEARS AGO

Chris Morisse Vizza

@ChrisMorisseViz

Must read @purduemitch emails about #HowardZinn before forming your opinion or commenting
on the controversy on.jconline.com/12BmEhaa

 5 YEARS AGO

"The American Historical Association would consider any governor’s action that interfered with an individual
teacher’s reading assignments to be inappropriate and a violation of academic freedom. Some of the relevant
facts of this case remain murky, and it is not entirely clear what in the end happened, or did not happen, in
Indiana. Nonetheless, the AHA deplores the spirit and intent of former Governor Daniels’s e-mails of 2010, which
have now been published online in unabridged form. Whatever the strengths or weaknesses of Howard Zinn’s
text, and whatever the criticisms that have been made of it, we believe that the open discussion of controversial
books benefits students, historians, and the general public alike. Attempts to single out particular texts for
suppression from a school or university curriculum have no place in a democratic society." -- American Historical
Association, July 19, 2013, 4:53 pm.

AHA
@AHAhistorians

AHA Statement on Academic Freedom and the Indiana Governor | American Historical
Association bit.ly/13qyvSCrsTwitterstorians

 @Dominiq92516944 · 5 YEARS AGO

"As someone who spent almost 0 years as a high school history teacher, I’m amused by the impoverished
pedagogical vision embedded in Daniels’ emails and subsequent defense." -- Bill Bigelow, July 19, 2013

Indiana's Anti-Howard Zinn Witch-hunt

by Bill Bigelow Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States, one of the
country's most widely read history books, died...

ZINNEDPROJECT

On the Mitch Daniels/Howard Zinn issue: a commenter on the linked Inside Higher Ed story wrote that “Zinn
basically saw American democracy and capitalistic economy as a sham while . . . he made a good living tucked in
the loving bosom [of] its higher education institutions.” I happen to know exactly how much money Zinn made
back in the late 9 0s, and it was far from “a good living.” Here’s the comment I wrote in response to this classic
right-wing diversionary tactic . . . : You are wrong that he “made a good living” at Boston University. The
president of the uni in the 9 0s and 990s, John Silber, was ideologically at war with Zinn, and he and his minions
prevented Zinn ever from getting any merit increases since before he even published “A People’s History.” How
do I know? I worked in the summer of 9 7 in the Office of Faculty Actions, and it was my job to Xerox tenure &
promotion files and to mail out faculty contracts. I remember opening Zinn’s returned contract and seeing that
he had signed it but had also included a note to the effect that “I see once again you refuse to pay me any more
money, but I don’t care!” -- HIstoriann, July 19, 2013.

Historiann
Call this the sky is blue/grass is green/water is wet edition of the news: On the Mitch Daniels/Howard
Zinn issue: a commenter on the lin...
HISTORIANN
 Stephanie Wang
@stephaniewang

Money time. Will #Purdue president Mitch Daniels win his incentive pay? Additional 30 percent of
his annual $420K base salary possible.

 5 YEARS AGO

Stephanie Wang
@stephaniewang

Spurgeon: @purduemitch "demonstrated abundant energy," "exceeded expectations" of board.

Proposal to give full incentive: $58,153.84.

 @RockTheCollege · 5 YEARS AGO

Stephanie Wang
@stephaniewang

Trustees unanimously award @purduemitch his full 30% additional incentive pay for first six
months (jan-june): $58,153.84.

 @erikwdavis · 5 YEARS AGO

Stephanie Wang
@stephaniewang

#Purdue saved more than $10 million with folks volunteering to give up salary raises, not filling
vacant positions, @purduemitch says.

 @dollinger4sb · 5 YEARS AGO

Rob Powers
@RobPowersEDU

Using @ZinnEdProject in class helps kids consider many views in history. Critical thinking that
@purduemitch has no respect for! #sschat

 5 YEARS AGO

Cora Carter
@corajcarter

I will never stop defending the man @purduemitch. He loves my University and my state and my
country. #stopcallinghimadictator #rude

 5 YEARS AGO
 Stephanie Wang
@stephaniewang

Mitch Daniels came over to clarify he is not getting a "bonus" or "raise" but earning a portion of his
salary that was "at risk." #purdue

 @jefftayloredits · 5 YEARS AGO

Rob Powers
@RobPowersEDU

@BCcampion Critical thinking requires varied viewpoints, Zinn w/ others. @purduemitch attempt
to ban it outright for HS kids is a shame

 5 YEARS AGO

Stephanie Wang
@stephaniewang

Fielding questions at media availability, Mitch Daniels cuts off the AP's @tomlobianco after several
?s: "That's all I've got to say on it."

 @dollinger4sb · 5 YEARS AGO

"In his statement defending his efforts to censor Zinn’s book, Mitch Daniels argued, “Respected scholars and
communicators of all ideologies agree that the work of Howard Zinn was irredeemably slanted and unsuited for
teaching to schoolchildren.” Daniels’ office has been sending out quotes from seven historians critical of Zinn to
support that claim. I surveyed the living historians cited by Daniels, and got responses from three of them, who
unanimously condemned Daniels." -- John K. Wilson, July 19, 2013

The Historians Cited By Mitch Daniels Denounce Him

In his statement defending his efforts to censor Zinn's book, Mitch Daniels argued,
"Respected scholars and communicators of all ideologi...

JOHN K. WILSON

"If Mitch Daniels’s intentions were to prevent the brainwashing of Indiana students with claptrap such as A
People’s History, then it’s all the more reason to mourn the fact that he chose not to run for president in 2012 ." -
- John Fund, July 19, 2013, 8:29 am
 John Fund - Mitch Daniels vs. A People's History
It looks as if former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels is giving as good as he got in
the debate over his controversial e-mails slamming th...

NATIONALREVIEW

Hayleigh Colombo
@hayleighcolombo

If you missed my radio spot today or want a reporter's perspective on Daniels/Zinn issue... Starts
near 15 min mark: soundcloud.com/bylinewfpl/sha…pl/sha…

 5 YEARS AGO

The Prince of Wales makes a speech during a State Dinner with the
Norwegian Royal Family by Clarence House
The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall are in Norway as part of Their
Royal Highnesses' tour of Scandinavia. The Prince of Wales made this speech during
the state dinner at the Royal Palace in Oslo.

"Mitch Daniels is president of Purdue University, and considered a moderate Republican. I am not sure what that
says about immoderate Republicans, but his recently publicized efforts as governor to ban Howard Zinn’s works
from the public school system suggest a lack of moderation." -- Peter N. Kirstein, July 19, 2013

In Defense of Howard Zinn

Peter N. Kirstein is a professor of history at St. Xavier University, and the vice-
president of the Illinois AAUP. Mitch Daniels is presi...

GUEST BLOGGER

"Daniels told reporters after a meeting of the board that a statement he made as governor that Indiana should
"disqualify the propaganda" he saw being used in Indiana's teacher preparation courses was meant only to keep
Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" from being taught in the state's K- classrooms." Tom LoBianco,
July 19, 2013, 6:50 pm.

Daniels: Goal was to keep kids from reading Zinn

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.
AP
 @purduemitch: will u plz sign my anti-american history book? @johncusack @StephenAtHome
#amiinnazigermany pic.twitter.com/uvyCcXNaXvNaXv

 MICHAEL F. DELL @MICHAELFDELL · 5 YEARS AGO

"Scrubbed, ethnocentric history — and the anti-intellectualism that goes hand in hand — are the stock in trade of
virtually any politician who reaches the heights Daniels has. His appointment as Purdue University president by
trustees he appointed falls in line with a generally accepted view of universities not as havens of free inquiry and
democratic empowerment but as economic development factories." -- Dan Carpenter, July 19, 2013

Dan Carpenter: Mitch Daniels' meddling on Zinn fits a pattern

Long before Howard Zinn wrote "A People's History of the United States," I.F. Stone wrote "The Hidden
History of the Korean War." Long be...
INDYSTAR

"This revelation and two other official state news releases last week reveal what I believe is our state’s collective
inability to think critically. Maybe it’s a lack of desire. Either way it thwarts good public policy. Instead we get
empty aphorisms from our elected and appointed leaders and a disengaged public." -- John Ketzenberger, July
19, 2013
 John Ketzenberger: Hoosiers, let's insist on facts, dump the happy talk
Quick, decide what you think about former Gov. Mitch Daniels' email diatribe of historian Howard Zinn's
work and its relevance to educati...
INDYSTAR

Mike White
@shiro_maikku

@purduemitch Why does such an atrocity (you) exist at my school? Oh, that's right, because you're
an unethical, slimy snake. Please leave.

 5 YEARS AGO

July 20

"State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz confirmed Friday that it was her office that released
emails to the Associated Press that led to news stories about former Gov. Mitch Daniels' 0 0 temper tantrum, in
which he demanded answers about Indiana's use of a history textbook he objected to." -- July 20, 2013

Behind Closed Doors: Glenda Ritz says her office released Mitch
Daniels emails
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz confirmed Friday that it was her office that
released emails to the Associated Pre...
INDYSTAR

"Did former Governor, now university President, Mitch Daniels seek to censor the late Howard Zinn,
a Communist prof who wrote the anti-American bestseller A People’s History of the United States? No, but that’s
what the AP suggested . . . The AP writer doesn’t get that, of course. But what it’s important that more
dispassionate souls recognize that there is no connection between Mitch Daniels’s effort to depoliticize the
university system in Indiana — a task that, given the ideological complexion of American higher education, meant
showing leftists (the AP calls them “liberal,” but actually they are illiberal leftists) the door — there is no
connection, I say, between that effort and the “censorship” he was alleged to have been engaged in." -- Roger
Kimball, July 20, 2013, 3:47 am

Mitch Daniel vs Howard Zinn. Daniels wins.

Did former Governor, now university President, Mitch Daniels seek to censor the late Howard Zinn, a
Communist prof who wrote the anti-Ame...
PJMEDIA
 Amy Brown
@amy_eliz_brown

Thanks, Mitch Daniels, for making next week's class discussion on banned literature relevant:
fxn.ws/15Rx2TZxnewsFoxNews

 @uselessnote · 5 YEARS AGO

Arreis Leachim
@iftheczarknew

Zinn's history is crap, not genius-level as suggested in Good Will Hunting bit.ly/16QDUQGfor
pointing it out, Mitch Daniels

 5 YEARS AGO

Joy Castro
@_JoyCastro

"Mr. Daniels, free societies openly teach ideas we disagree with.…Study your Orwell.”
academeblog.org/2013/07/19/the…7/19/tThe_Big_QuietBig_Quiet

 5 YEARS AGO

Mitch Daniels Plagiarized in His First Response to Zinn Emails | MyFDL

In response* to emails Associated Press's Tom LoBianco posted** recently concerning the former
Indiana governor's attempts to ban Howard Zinn's work from classrooms, Mitch Daniels, now president
of Purdue University, first lifted words from someone else's writing and passed them off as his own.
FIREDOGLAKE

“He would teach the controversy,” said Nadine Dolby, a Purdue University professor watching as a beloved
teacher from her days at Boston University was publicly upbraided by the president of her present university.
“That’s just what he’d do.” -- July 20, 2013, 5:16 pm

Bangert: What would Howard Zinn do?

What would the late historian Howard Zinn have been doing in the classroom last week after being
called out as a fraud, his name dragged around three years ago by a man who was then Indiana's
governor and now president of one of the state's major research universities?
JCONLINE

July 21

"Let’s hope that the former governor’s attempt to suppress free thought will have the effect that censorship often
does: to drive a curious public to read and judge for themselves." -- Brett Alan Sanders, 12:01 am
 LETTER: Hopefully Daniels inspires curiosity about author
Brett Alan Sanders, Tell City, Ind. So former Gov. Daniels plotted to have Howard Zinn's
"A People's History of the United States" remove...

COURIERPRESS

"Let’s be clear. Daniels was perfectly within his rights to express his opinion of Zinn (who, incidentally, had been
critical of Daniels’ tenure as Budget Director, although surely that had nothing to do with Daniels animus..). The
Governor was NOT within his rights to dictate what can and cannot be taught in public school or university
classrooms, and certainly not within his rights to try to cut off funding for a respected academic program
because the scholar in charge of that program had been critical of his education policies." -- Sheila Kennedy, July
21, 2013, 7:46 am

Sheila Kennedy
A representative of an organization I had never previously heard of-despite 15+ years in the 'groves of
academe' -has mounted a robust de...
SHEILAKENNEDY

"And here’s how we see it. The Associated Press report is newsworthy, thorough, fair, well-researched and well-
written . . . Daniels answers only to his board now. The people of Indiana have little direct influence over him. But,
in terms of his reactions and responses to newsworthy items pertaining to him and his tenure as their governor,
Hoosiers have a right to expect better." -- Editorial, The Tribune-Star, July 21, 2013

EDITORIAL: Hoosiers can expect more from a former governor

Mitch Daniels' response to AP report falls short Purdue University President Mitch Daniels is indignant
over an Associated Press report t...
TRIBSTAR

Zinn Ed Project
@ZinnEdProject

Daniels' attempt to censor Howard Zinn threatens all people's (multicultural+labor) history
books/films commondreams.org/view/2013/07/1…01bannedbooksnnedbooks

 @brainspirations · 5 YEARS AGO

Breitbart News
@BreitbartNews

Liberals Outraged Mitch Daniels Struck Down Radical Curriculum as Gov.: Liberals are outraged
as 2010 emails s... bit.ly/15X5TPB

 @truthis24fps · 5 YEARS AGO

 bryan abel
@haydad1911

So, liberals are upset at Mitch Daniels because students are actually going to get an education at
college? Typical

 5 YEARS AGO

Scott Weaver
@scottweaver

@drdavidjleonard After privatizing more than half the state, I'm sure he didn't want any of Zinn's
context.

 5 YEARS AGO

Stephen G Volan
@sgv

Sociologist James Loewen: Who mysteriously cancelled my Indiana speaking engagements in

2007? Mitch Daniels' office bit.ly/15XSPtk

 @leafhansen · 5 YEARS AGO

"The emails are a constant reminder that the man who presented himself as a master technocrat, more
concerned with fiscal issues than social grenades, came up in Washington as an ace political operative.?" -- Tom
LoBianco, July 21, 2013, 11:56 am

Emails give better view of master pol Daniels

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) â It's ironic that a debate over the complete and accurate telling
of history, and whether Howard Zinn fits in th...

CTPOST

Amos Brown
@Amoswtlcindy

Just finding out that I was subject of one of those Mitch Daniels emails that have been made
public. I found the email hilarious

 @EdCates · 5 YEARS AGO

"I’ve never read Zinn’s book, but I still have an issue with any politician, or any person who isn’t really an
educator, believing they have the power to dictate what does or does not constitute a proper reading curriculum
in the classroom." -- Dane McDonald, 6:47 pm
 Get out of my classroom, Mitch Daniels | Commentary | Indiana Daily
Student
Last time I checked, Mitch Daniels was not and is not an educator, which perhaps lends itself to the air
of controversy that surrounded h...
IDSNEWS

July 22

"But in a sense, it was precisely to combat such attitudes that we offered the institute in the first place. Despite
the changes that have taken place in the teaching of U.S. history — most obviously exemplified by Black History
Month — most American students still get the message that the real movers and shakers in history are the
wealthy and powerful; or if they learn about grassroots activists — such as Rosa Parks — they learn about them as
heroic individuals, not part of a movement." -- Carl Weinberg, July 22, 2013

Essay by one of the professors who taught Howard Zinn, drawing

criticism from Mitch Daniels | Inside Higher Ed
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/07/22/essay-one-professors-who-
taught-howard-zinn-drawing-criticism-mitch-daniels

INSIDEHIGHERED

"Daniels notes that Zinn's work does not include mentions of the battle of Gettysburg, the Gettysburg Address,
Washington's Farewell Address, Appomattox, the Treaty of Versailles or historical figures such as U.S. Grant,
Robert E. Lee or George Patton.

Daniels says that Zinn's work, though, does feature passages that charge Abraham Lincoln with holding racist
views, the founding fathers with favoring a strong central government in order to protect the interests of the
wealthy and Bill Clinton with emphasizing crime prevention, welfare reform and foreign policy as to distract
attention from 'the failures of the American system.'" -- John Krull, July 22. 2013, 10:00 am

Guest Voices
click to enlarge Mitch Daniels calls to express some concerns about a column I'd written about him, the
late Howard Zinn and academic fre...
JOHN KRULL

Purdue faculty 'troubled' by Mitch Daniels' Zinn comments

Purdue faculty 'troubled' by Mitch Daniels' Zinn comments A group of Purdue University professors says
it is concerned about school Presi...
INDYSTAR

90 Purdue faculty members signed on to an open letter to Mitch Daniels:

"We are writing in response to the recent news reports about e-mails you wrote while governor of Indiana. In
those e-mails, you criticized the historian Howard Zinn and his work, and you sought to find ways to "get rid of"
Zinn's ideas in Indiana schools." However much we disagree with your past statements, we are more troubled by
the fact that you continue to express these views today, especially since you are now speaking as the chief
representative of Purdue University, with the responsibility to embody the best of academic inquiry and
exchange.

We appreciate the fact that you have articulated your support for the idea of academic freedom for tenured
professors, but such reassurances do not go far enough. In this letter, we'd like to explain what we find so
troubling about your continued insistence that Zinn's works are "truly execrable" and fraudulent.

First, your assessment of Zinn's work goes against the judgment of Purdue's own faculty members, many of
whom do include his work in their syllabi or in their published research--not to mention historians across the
nation and the world. Whatever their political stripe, most experts in the field of U.S. history do not take issue
with Howard Zinn's facts, even when they do take issue with his conclusions.

Second, we note that you quote several scholarly critics of Zinn's works in the statement posted on your Purdue
President's page. It's important to recognize that Oscar Handlin and Arthur Schlesinger made assumptions about
how to study and interpret history that were fundamentally at odds with Zinn's assumptions. Handlin and
Schlesinger and others of the so-called "consensus school of U.S. history" that flourished in the 1950s believed
that they could use the sources generated by the people with power to speak for ALL Americans. In the 1960s,
Zinn and many others of a rising generation of scholars questioned that original assumption and practice; they
sought the voices and perspectives of people who did not have power. They discovered through diligent
research that working people, Black people, women, Native Americans and immigrants expressed views that
were at odds with their political, military and economic leaders.

Such disagreements about scholarship in the fields of humanities and social science are not unusual. In fact, we
expect that generational change in the academy and the publication of innovative, exciting work by scholars in
good standing should spark this kind of debate. Such discussions make for better history and for better teaching
in the wider community!

Third, we also note that you do not quote the many positive reviews of his work--just the kind of biased
presentation you accuse Zinn of making in his publications. For every negative comment that you note in your
letter, you could find a positive one published in expert venues. As just one example, Eric Foner, the Dewitt
Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University and a former president of the American Historical
Association, insisted in a review that appeared in The New York Times Book Review that Zinn's A People's
History ought to be "required reading." On another occasion, Foner said of Zinn, "Over the years, I have been
struck by how many excellent students of history had their interest in studying the past sparked by reading
Howard Zinn. That's the highest compliment one can offer to a historian."

Throughout his career, Zinn was a dedicated teacher, and until his death, he was a well-respected member of the
American Historical Association. You can find the association's memoriam to him, which details his contributions
to the field of U.S. history here: historians.org/perspectives….

To call him "a fraud" and to charge that he "purposely falsified American history," as you do in your statement to
the Associated Press released on July 17, and "irredeemably slanted," as you do in the letter published on your
Purdue President webpage, reflects a misunderstanding of the nature of academic discussion.

Scholarly debates and disagreements create ferment that leavens the study of history. Without vigorous
disagreements about the meaning of the American experience, the field would not have moved in such
important directions as the study of women's history, African American history, labor history, the history of
sexuality and so on. Moreover, to insist that Zinn's critical perspective is anti-American is to miss his commitment
to bringing out our better collective selves--living up to the great ideals of egalitarianism and democratic
involvement upon which this republic was founded.
Fourth, we see that your response to the AP reporting draws a line between academic freedom in higher
education and K-12 instruction. In your statements, you seek to reassure us that were Zinn a tenured professor
here at Purdue, he would be allowed to pursue his research and to publish it. You argue that your original e-mails
and your views today pertain only to the introduction of Zinn's book into K-12 classrooms.

And yet, in your January "Open Letter to the People of Purdue," you suggest that the tenure system--the bedrock
on which academic freedom in higher education is built--should be reconsidered: "The academies that, through
the unique system of tenure, once enshrined freedom of opinion and inquiry now frequently are home to the
narrowest sort of closed-mindedness and the worst repression of dissident ideas."

When we put this statement next to your excoriation of a respected scholar, we are concerned that in fact ideas
that don't find favor at the highest levels of our institution will be discouraged, and ideas that are celebrated by
our top administration rather than by those scholars whose expertise makes them uniquely qualified to make
such judgments will be promoted. Whether or not our fears reflect your point of view accurately, when we put
your public statements together, we find them to have a chilling effect on untenured scholars and to affect the
morale of Purdue's long-time faculty as well.
Finally, we note that in the original e-mails, you were concerned in particular with a summer institute taught at
Indiana University for high school teachers, not students. Surely you don't believe that fully accredited teachers
need to be protected from Zinn, whatever you may believe about children being "force-fed" information that you
find objectionable.

We know better of our K-12 colleagues. As do all teachers, they need to read peer-reviewed scholarship from
across the spectrum and be challenged with points of view that they may not hold; as we all do, they crave
energetic, vibrant discussion with other professionals--just the kind of experience the program at Indiana
University was designed to provide. And then, as all teachers should, they bring the insight and energy of such
experiences back to their own classrooms.

We trust our colleagues to introduce young people to the facts of history, but also to the much more difficult,
much more essential practices of critical thinking. We trust our K-12 colleagues to know how and when to
present challenges to received knowledge and how to encourage their students to judge such challenges for
themselves. And we trust them to decide how and when to use controversial scholarship such as Zinn's in their
classrooms. This kind of academic freedom is essential to all levels of education, whether within a tenure system
or not. And we promise you, this kind of challenging, stimulating approach will result in better, more engaging
education of all Indiana students, from our five-year old kindergartners, to members of Purdue's class of 2017,
and beyond.

In the end, this issue transcends one author and one book. It concerns the very legitimacy of academic
discourse. Scholarship emerges virtually every day that challenges the "conventional wisdom" of prior
generations. Do we assess such scholarship critically, or do we censor uncomfortable ideas out of hand? The
very viability of academic inquiry and the university's mission is at stake.

Mitch Daniels is no joke: he is the Manchurian Candidate of right-wing higher education in the U.S. He and his
cronies seek to roll education history back to the McCarthy years of academic purges, aggressive sexism, racism,
anti-Communism and blacklisting. We need to fight back with everything we have."

Text from socialistworker.org/2013/07…

Censoring Howard Zinn: Former Indiana Gov. Tried to Remove "A

Peoples' History" From State Schools
Newly disclosed emails obtained by the Associated Press show former Indiana
governor Mitch Daniels moved to remove the Howard Zinn's work...
DEMOCRACYNOW
 3rd Annual Mitch Daniels Book Burning Pi...

 MUCKFITCH · 5 YEARS AGO

Cymbeline
@Cymbeline3

Oh, Mitch Daniels, you virtual book-burner, you. For one thing, what happened to "teach the
controversy"? Hmm? Shoes on the other foot, eh?

 5 YEARS AGO

jaykenworthy
@jaykenworthy

Did Mitch Daniels murder Howard Zinn? Judging by the amount of ink this story has gotten, I
think the press believes he did.

 @jaredstimson · 5 YEARS AGO

 Debra Blair
@debs2cents

Good for Daniels finally someone in the government who is standing up for American history and
NOT allowing it to... fb.me/XD1cjWTW

 5 YEARS AGO

Mitch Daniels: "Zinn undercut the foundation of scientific inquiry and research in an article titled 'The Uses of
Scholarship.'" -- Tom LoBianco, July 22, 2013, 6:47 pm

Former GOP Gov Drawing Heavy Criticism In New Role

INDIANAPOLIS - Dozens of Purdue University professors questioned their new
school president's commitment to academic freedom Monday follo...

HUFFINGTONPOST

As one of my 8th graders put it a few years back: “History isn’t so much about what happened in the past. It’s
about how to change the future.” I could not state any better why I use A People’s History in my classroom. —
Bryan Hoang, Irvine, Calif., 10th-Grade U.S. History Teacher

Zinn Education Project

Press Release Contact: Deborah Menkart, co-director, 202-294-2703
dmenkart@teachingforchange.org www.zinnedproject.org Teachers Across th...

ZINNEDPROJECT

"It almost goes without saying that this is yet another example of why this country needs teacher tenure. There
are millions of petty little despots like Daniels serving on school boards and in district offices who would love to
impose punishments on teachers who dare to challenge their orthodoxies." Jersey Jazzman, July 22, 2013

Jersey Jazzman
Mitch Daniels - former governor of Indiana and current president of Purdue University -
is an anti-intellectual, book-banning little twer...

DUKE

July 23
 Mitch Daniels Responds to Purdue Faculty
Mitch Daniels wrote a response (full text below) to the 90 Purdue professors who
wrote to him about the controversy over Howard Zinn. Dan...

JOHN K. WILSON

"Response to Purdue Faculty

By Mitch Daniels
July 23, 2013

Dear Colleagues:

I appreciate your thoughtful letter received this morning, and your giving me this opportunity to respond.
While more extensive exchanges may ultimately be useful, in the interest of responsiveness let me reply in brief
fashion today, as your eloquently expressed concerns can be addressed straightforwardly. The short answer is
that we are in strong general agreement, much more so than your letter suggests.

1. I am not only in agreement but passionately dedicated to the freest realm of inquiry possible at Purdue. My
every word and action to date does I believe support my commitment to this outlook; in fact, we have been
examining all existing policies to see if our protection of free speech on the campus needs strengthening in any
way. I have never made any suggestion that any university cease teaching whatever its faculty pleases, or cease
using any book.

2. I support the tenure system as a protection of academic freedom. There is nothing in my open letter to the
contrary, and it is a complete misunderstanding, innocent I am sure, of my letter to assert anything different. I
have nothing to do with faculty tenure and promotion decisions and would never seek any role. I have already
made it plain that, were Howard Zinn a faculty member, I would defend ardently his right to express his views
and publish his particular form of scholarship.

3. I understand fully that there are multiple competing theories of historiography, and of the proper
understanding of American history in specific. On this campus, all should be free to contend, with the beneficial
consequences your letter discusses. I do respectfully disagree that Prof. Zinn’s work is as widely accepted or as
mainstream as you portray it. By his own avowal, it expresses his biases in what it includes and just as notably in
what it omits. That is why it has been criticized all across the ideological spectrum, including by so many who
share his strongly negative view of the American experiment. That is also why I believe other, more mainstream
textbooks should be used in Hoosier K-12 schools, a position that apparently every school board in the state to
date shares and has adopted.
One of many faculty members who wrote me supportive messages pointed out that Prof. Zinn’s disdain for the
idea of objective truth went far beyond American history. In his essay, “The Uses of Scholarship”, Prof. Zinn
criticized “disinterested scholarship,” “objective study” and the “scientific method” across the disciplines, thus
attacking the foundations of Purdue’s entire research enterprise.
Just to repeat: My only concern in two e-mail questions years ago was what was being taught to middle school
children in their formative lessons in American history. My questions expressed no interest in higher education,
only to inquire whether a book I (and legions of other, more expert commentators) consider highly misleading
was in use in our elementary or secondary schools, or whether the state should encourage and reward its
teaching through professional career advantages it awards as “professional development”.

Please note all that did not happen. I never made any public comment about this topic, or about Prof. Zinn, other
than a mention of him in a book I wrote in 2011, until attacked in the recent AP story. No change of any kind
occurred with regard to the summer class for K-12 teachers; its participants received credit, and would today if
the class was still offered.
Most important, no one tried to “censor” anyone’s right to express any opinion they might hold. As many others
have observed, this was a careless and inappropriate use of that inflammatory word.

Protecting the educational standards of middle schoolers, to me an important duty of any governor, has nothing
to do with protecting against encroachments of academic freedom in higher education, a similarly central duty
of any university president. I have and will attend to the latter duty with the same resoluteness I tried to bring to
the former.

I appreciate the civil tone of your letter and the sincerity I know underlies it. I accepted Purdue’s invitation, not to
quarrel with anyone, but to support the work of all its scholars and the freedom necessary for them to pursue
that work. As time and other duties permit, I will be glad to listen further and respond as needed."

Brendan Murphy
@BMurphySports

You all understand those 90 Purdue professors signing that letter to Mitch Daniels is less than 5%
of total faculty, right? Can't wait for -

 @SHURA1UKFAN · 5 YEARS AGO

Joseph
@JosephFinn

@CarolGSLIS It amazes me that a university would ever hire a union buster like Mitch Daniels &
then be surprised when he acts like he does.

 5 YEARS AGO

"Since 1940, the American Association of University Professors has stood by the Statement on Academic
Freedom and Tenure declared in that year. We support the statement that "Teachers are entitled to full freedom
in research and in the publication of the results, subject to the adequate performance of their other academic
duties." The declaration also states that "Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their
subject, but they should be careful not to introduce into their teaching controversial matter which has no
relation to their subject." The writings of Howard Zinn are a perfect example of material relevant for discussion
in teacher education and history classes, even though these writings are also controversial. The Indiana
Conference of the American Association of University Professors condemns Mitch Daniels' efforts as Governor of
Indiana to censor the use of Howard Zinn's works in a summer institute for high school teachers at Indiana
University. Although we commend his more recent reaffirmation, as President of Purdue University, of a
commitment to academic freedom in higher education, we see a fundamental contradiction between this claim
of support for academic freedom and his continued defense of his earlier efforts to control what teachers and
professors assign in their classrooms. We urge Daniels to declare his uncompromising support for the right of
faculty to research and teach without interference from university or state administrators." -- American
Association of University Professors, July 23, 2013

Indiana AAUP Conference Statement & Open Letter from 90 Professors

| AAUP
The Iris Molotsky Award for Excellence in Coverage of Higher Ed recognizes
coverage of higher education nationally and aims to encourage ...
AAUP

"Would you believe it, I *intentionally* assign opposing viewpoints on history in my classes, because I think
students benefit from seeing that debate! To date, I haven't had any students morph into Marxist Red Anti-
American Transformers just because they learned that historians disagree with each other.' -- Aphra Benn, July
23, 2013

Shakesville: Whoooops Your Citations, Mitch Daniels!

Hey, remember that time when Mitch Daniels tried to save academic freedom by destroying it? When
he claimed that Howard Zinn "falsified" ...
SHAKESVILLE

Teaching Tolerance
@Tolerance_org

We stand with the Zinn Education Project. sp.lc/1bca1Cd

 @KristieOBrien1 · 5 YEARS AGO

Kristie O'Brien
@KristieOBrien1

Which engages deeper thinking? Analyze events from diverse perspectives vs. memorize "heroes" &
dates @Tolerance_org sp.lc/1bca1Cd

 5 YEARS AGO

"There are 34 active full-time faculty in the History department, and just 15 of them signed it. There are 17
specialists in one branch or another of American history in that department, and just seven of them signed it. The
History department at Purdue appears to be in better shape than one might have guessed, for a major American
university these days." -- Matthew J. Franck, July 23, 2013, 10:17 am
Mitch Daniels Can Count
On college campuses, where I have spent most of my life, it is not that hard to gin up faculty outrage
when administrators are credibly a...
MATTHEW J. FRANCK

IndianaDailyStudent
@idsnews

Column: Last time I checked, Mitch Daniels was and is not an educator. | idsn.ws/135ICb2

 @MeSoCorni · 5 YEARS AGO

Indiana YRs
@IFYRepublicans

GUEST COMMENTARY: "Zinn's book isn't suitable for Indiana's K-12 students" by Mitch Daniels:
nwitimes.com/news/opinion/c…ion/c…

 @maneal1987 · 5 YEARS AGO

Jared
@_jlog

Who gave Mitch Daniels a badge and gun? Thought police will never prosper.

 5 YEARS AGO

Sara Wiest
@wiestface

Essay by one of the professors who taught Howard Zinn, drawing criticism from Mitch Daniels |
Inside Higher Ed insidehighered.com/views/2013/07/…ws/2013/07/…

 5 YEARS AGO

Sean Hadley
@seanchadley

Academics can he so ridiculous sometimes. #ivorytowermentality "Mitch Daniels Can Count"

shar.es/k4C5zstthinfirstthingsmag

 5 YEARS AGO
 Tim Ludden
@timludden

I'd care more about the Mitch Daniels thing if I actually thought the academy was a place where
free thought actually reigns supreme.

 5 YEARS AGO

Ann Apple
@DianeLBahler

One thing is for sure. Mitch Daniels is making me want to read Zinn's books! Everyone should get a
copy and see... fb.me/ZCQcnBEL

 5 YEARS AGO

July 25, 2013

"The Purdue professors claim, in their conclusion, that they seek to introduce students to "critical thinking," and
that for that esteemed reason, Zinn must be included in any curriculum. Teachers, they say, have the duty to use
"controversial scholarship" if they so choose, so that the "conventional wisdom" of past generations can be
challenged.
In making that case, they reveal their own limited and false view of what history offers us. History is a way of
learning about the past, so that we can understand from what roots we came. It is not a mechanism meant to
provide inspiration for leftist agendas, or for that matter, for conservative ones." -- Ronald Radosh, 25 July 2013

92 Professors Go After Mitch Daniels

The vultures in academia are out to get Mitch Daniels Jr., the president of Purdue University and former
governor of Indiana. Inside High...
MINDINGTHECAMPUS

"The OAH regards the current episode as a “teachable moment” when instructors in American history at every
level have the opportunity to convey to our students how historians debate ideas and assess the merit of each
others’ written work. We invite members to contact us with their account of classroom exercises and discussion
questions that they have used, or intend to use in class, to promote discussion of such issues. We promise to post
as many of them as we can on our website to encourage open discussion." -- Alan M. Kraut, OAH President and
Katherine M. Finley, OAH Executive Director, July 25, 2013

OAH Responds to Recent Concerns of Academic Freedom

July 25, 2013. The Organization of American Historians has received a letter from Purdue University
faculty members, many of whom are OAH...
OAH
July 26, 2013

"Much more problematic is what the memos reveal about Daniels’ character: he is deeply anti-intellectual,
favoring censorship over debate, restriction over openness. The reflexive desire to stamp out the teaching of
Zinn’s work reveals far more about Daniels than it does about Zinn. It shows him to be an eager partisan
ideologue uninterested in ideas, debates or views that contradict his. These qualities are fundamentally at odds
with the basic tenets of higher learning." -- Joseph Heathcott, July 28, 2013, 12:01 am.

COMMUNITY COMMENT: Daniels' intolerance makes him unfit to lead

university
As a native Hoosier and now professor of history, I was alarmed by recent revelations of
Mitch Daniels' efforts to censor the work of his...
BY JOSEPH HEATHCOTT / SPECIAL TO THE COURIER & PRESS

"Comparing Zinn’s work to Holocaust deniers, Ronald Radosh argues: “one should not debate such a purveyor of
untruth, and thus give legitimacy and credibility to unscientific and false arguments that have no merit
whatsoever.” To put Zinn’s work in the same category as Holocaust deniers requires such complete dishonesty
and irrationality that it must cause us to distrust Radosh’s judgment. Does Radosh seriously believe that every
single thing Zinn writes about is the equivalent of Holocaust denial? I wrote a book criticizing Rush Limbaugh,
explaining in detail why he was wrong. Limbaugh’s factual errors and conspiracy theories go far beyond anything
Zinn’s critics have alleged. Yet I would never compare Limbaugh to a Holocaust denier or call for the government
to censor him." -- John K. Wilson, July 26, 2013

The Defenders of Daniels

Mitch Daniels' attacks on the teaching of Howard Zinn have drawn widespread
condemnation, even from the critics of Zinn that Daniels cite...

JOHN K. WILSON

"It is not that Zinn was a naked falsifier in the manner, say, of the historian and Holocaust denier David Irving.
Rather, he was a mythmaker who was at constant pains to portray the American story as one long chronicle of
exploitation, oppression and deceit. To Zinn, the dark strands of our country’s past — of which there is genuinely
no shortage — became the only strands, all of them useful in telling a left-wing morality tale in which class
interests always determine the development of ideas and control the course of events." -- Gabriel
Schoenfeld, July 26, 2013, 4:54 pm
 An honest history of Howard Zinn
PETER LENNIHAN/AP Historian Howard Zinn, author of "A People's History of the
United States." It seems that the ghost of Howard Zinn need...

GABRIEL SCHOENFELD

July 29, 2013

Guest column: Mitch, here's where we split ways on Howard Zinn

Dear Mitch, I hope you don't mind the informality. I've felt like we share something in common ever
since learning that you not only read...
JCONLINE

"Listen, I have no trouble understanding why you recoil at Zinn’s unrepentant Marxism, his naïve embrace of Mao
and Fidel. I’m there with you. But what has me shaking my head is your claim that Zinn’s books “have no more
place in Indiana history classrooms than ... the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ in world history courses.” The
“Protocols?” Putting Zinn in the same category as the most scurrilous anti-Semitic tract ever written, a book
Hitler used to justify putting Jews in ovens?

I know you love this country, Mitch, and see yourself as a patriot. But in his own way, yes, a way different from
your own, Howard Zinn was a patriot too. He enlisted in the Air Force in World War II and flew combat missions
with the 490 Bombardment Group over Europe. When he taught at Spelman College, he got fired after sending
young black women to “white only” branches of the Atlanta Public Library to request copies of the Constitution.
While you may not agree with Zinn about Vietnam, you should know that at the height of war he went to Hanoi
and helped secure the release of Major Norris Overly, Ensign David Matheny and Capt. John Black. I bet that their
families still appreciate his efforts." -- Sam Wineburg, July 30, 2013

"Governor Daniels’s illiterate critics notwithstanding, it was not an act of censorship – there was no talk of
banning publication of the bestselling book, only of declining to use it in school curricula. From kindergarten
through graduate school, American education is a sewer of left-wing ideology, and Zinn’s work is an especially
ripe excretion. Governor Daniels’s office was right to bring attention to it — shoring up the integrity of public
institutions is part of what governors are there for." -- The Editors of the National Review, July 29, 2013, 4:00 am

The Editors - Mitch Daniels Was Right

Mitch Daniels, whom some Republicans would like to see president of something
more than Purdue University, is under attack because as gov...

NATIONALREVIEW

"The slur “anti-American” is symptomatic of the arrested development debilitating much of U.S. culture. Can any
word but “nonsense” describe the belief that an American who dedicated his life to teaching American youths,
advocating for equality for African-Americans, wrestling for protections for American workers and struggling for
peace for American soldiers hated his country?

The only people who could truly believe that inanity are those who equate the American people with the policies
of the American government and who relegate patriotism to a catatonic gaze locked into a state of childlike
simplicity and awe." -- David Masciotra, July 29, 2013, 11:11 am

Mitch Daniels Should Have Been More Open-Minded About Howard

Zinn's Magnum Opus
Truthout needs your support to produce grassroots journalism and disseminate
conscientious visions for a brighter future. Contribute now ...

TRUTH-OUT

July 30, 2013

"Politicians can't dictate course syllabi or reading lists in higher education. But nor should faculty be allowed to
engage in indoctrination and professional irresponsibility without being held to account." -- Benno Schmidt, July
30, 2013

Mitch Daniels's Gift to Academic Freedom

Most Americans would agree that academic freedom is a sacred right of the
academy and crucial to the American experiment in democracy. Bu...

WSJ

"Surely, with all of the problems American society confronts today relating to racism, sexism, militarism,
immigrant bashing, and the assault on working people by corporate power and its influence over our courts and
governing institutions -- acquainting students and the public at large with the past struggles against those
elements in American society that fuel and benefit from a divided and misguided citizenry remains a worthy
cause. Howard Zinn's work remains not only "relevant" but essential to pointing the way forward for the next
generation." -- Joseph A. Palermo, July 30, 2013, 1:15 pm

Mitch Daniels, Howard Zinn, and the Politics of History

The President of Purdue University and former governor of Indiana, Mitch Daniels,
deservedly became the target for censure recently in ac...

JOSEPH A. PALERMO

July 31, 2013

"Accuracy in Academia has covered Zinn extensively over the years and never favorably. Nevertheless, AIA has
never advocated censorship.
We want students to read more, not less. Ideally, professors should supplement Zinn with other histories,
preferably those that, unlike that of the late sage, utilize primary sources." -- Malcolm A. Kline, July 31, 2013

Supplement Zinn With Facts

Supplement Zinn With Facts Purdue president Mitch Daniels' efforts to keep Howard Zinn's A People's
History of the United States out of I...
ACADEMIA

August 2, 2013

"What bothers me most about the whole flap — about Daniels' emails and about the Purdue faculty's reaction to
them — is the way nuance was sacrificed to politics." -- Sam Wineburg, 2 August 2013

In Indiana, history meets politics

Emails recently obtained by the Associated Press have revealed that Indiana's
former Republican governor, Mitch Daniels , now president o...
LATIMES

August 5, 2013

"Governor Daniels assumed, without evidence, that teachers “inflicted” Zinn’s book on their students and “force-
fed” them Zinn’s radical view of the American past, indoctrinating them with leftist “propaganda.” But the way
that A People’s History has most commonly been used in history classes bears no resemblance to Daniels’s
overheated, ideological imaginings." -- The Nation, August 5, 2013

Who's Afraid of Radical History? | The Nation

Mitch Daniels' Covert War on Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. Mitch Daniels. (AP
Photo/Darron Cummings) A recent As...
THENATION