From our colleagues at the Indiana State AFL-CIO:
In 2025, Indiana passed HEA/HB1001, a budget law requiring public colleges to seek approval for continuing low-enrollment degree programs. In response, universities—including multiple Indiana University campuses—have proposed suspending or eliminating dozens to over 100 programs statewide, including labor studies, social sciences, and offerings focused on community-engagement. This means by 2027 the program will be phased out of existence at Indiana University.
Indiana University Labor Studies was just 2 students shy of the arbitrary threshold set by lawmakers. The department is also financially soluble and has GAINED enrollment year after year in the past few years.
This is not just a budget cut — it’s a cut to workers’ capacity to organize, learn, and protect themselves.
We are demanding the Commission on Higher Education and the Board of Trustees listen to working Hoosiers and support the work of the Labor Studies Department. If we will not be heard, we will not be stopped. We will continue to work in coalition to find ways to continue to educate Hoosier workers in the future.