IDS

House votes to strip public funding from Kinsey Institute

By Gentry Keener gekeener@iu.edu | @gentry_keener

The Indiana House voted Wednesday to prohibit the state from funding the Kinsey Institute, a research institute at IU aimed at promoting a greater understanding of human sexuality and relationships.

Rep. Lorissa Sweet, RDistrict 50, proposed the amendment to House Bill 1001, the state budget bill, which will prohibit state funding from going to the institute. The amendment was presented after raising concern about the Kinsey Institute’s namesake. The amendment was passed with a 53-34 vote.

At the House Chamber meeting, Sweet claimed the Kinsey Institute has a history of child sex studies, much of which she said have been referred to as crimes against children.

"We as the governing body need to put limits on the access to tax dollars we allow Indiana University to garner by denying such funds to be directed towards Kinsey Institute,” Sweet said at the House Chamber meeting.

Sweet said by limiting the funding to Kinsey Institute, they can be assured they are not “funding research committed by crimes.”

Rep. Matt Pierce, DDistrict 61, took to the stand to oppose the amendment. He said these accusations were widely debunked. “This amendment is based on old, unproven allegations of conspiracies that did not exist,” Pierce said. “There are no sexual predators and there never have been at the Kinsey Institute.”

SEE KINSEY PAGE 4

Osmaniye, Turkey

It was exactly 4:17 a.m. and 19-year-old Ezgi Kübra was sleeping in her room. Urgent voices from the living room woke her up. As she got up, she noticed the ground shaking beneath her. She was somewhat used to earthquakes hitting, she said. Ezgi knows they’re not uncommon in Turkey.

Formerly an exchange student at Bloomington High School North, Ezgi has been back at home for nearly 10 months after a year away from her family. The comfort she felt was interrupted by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that night in Osmaniye.

“I felt the hit,” Ezgi said. “It was horrible.”

That early morning, she ran into the living room to reach her family, even though she was at risk of being hit by falling objects.

Ezgi and her 15-year-old sister were in their father’s arms and her 7-year-old sister with her mom. She said she could feel her mom’s fear — even as she tried her best to hide it for her children’s sake. All five of them hid behind their couches, hands covering their heads. They waited 65 seconds for the trembling to stop.

“I thought we were going to die,” Ezgi said. “It was too much time. ‘We’re going to die. We’re going to die.’”

They said they could hear the walls cracking all around them. The TV fell over, shattering on the floor. The dishes on the rack splintered into a million pieces.

After the shaking stopped, the family and their neighbors went into the garden outside their home to assess the damage. It was dark, and rain was pouring down. Ezgi remembers her 7-year-old sister could not stop shaking. The 15-year-old wanted to call their grandparents to see if they were alright, but Ezgi was too scared to make the call herself.

Ezgi’s sisters learned later their grandparents made it through the earthquake alright.

Later, the family became concerned for their neighbors that had not fled their homes. They made their way to the doorstep of an elderly couple. They waited

Dam, whatever happened to the beaver?