What Does Indiana University Have to Hide?

Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Yet the Indiana University (IU) Simon Cancer Center is doing its best to prevent oversight of its discriminatory program.

In 2024, Do No Harm submitted public records requests about the IU Simon Cancer Center’s Educational Pathways for Cancer Research (EPCR) summer program that appeared to be restricted to “underrepresented” students. The center advertised the program as recently as January 14, 2025, but removed the program’s webpage at some point after. 

The since-removed program description stated that it was “designed to serve students from populations underrepresented in biomedical and clinical research,” linking to the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) diversity webpage.

The NIH previously defined “underrepresented” groups as “Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders.” The NIH has since deleted that definition from its public guidance.

Additionally, the EPRC program provided opportunities to high school teachers, enabling them to “participate in four weeks of laboratory research experience and curriculum development activities that integrate cancer-related topics into the state curriculum.”

According to an archived version of the teacher application form, applicants were required to submit information on their race.

Yet, at some point, IU scrubbed the program from its website.

And then, IU denied Do No Harm’s public records request for more information on the program.

If IU is no longer operating the EPRC program, it should let the world know. And if it feels that the program is lawful and does not discriminate on the basis of race, then it shouldn’t have anything to worry about.

It’s worth noting that since IU last advertised the program, President Trump issued an executive order cracking down on DEI in higher education.

Additionally, Indiana passed a law that, among other things, prohibits public educational institutions or employers from taking actions based on an individual’s “personal characteristic[s]” such as their race, religion, color, sex, national origin, or ancestry.

While IU has previously been a hub for DEI activities in the Hoosier State, it has since removed much of its DEI material following the passage of the law.

If IU didn’t do anything wrong, it should have nothing to hide.