Examining United Way Policies at Purdue University

The annual United Way fund drive as currently conducted at Purdue raises two important questions. The first concerns how administrators at Purdue comply with National United Way guidelines concerning coercion when conducting the campaign. Instead of running the campaign through volunteer, peer committees; at least some employees have united way activities written into their job description. The fund drive is endorsed and supervised by high-level administrators, and they use their authority to intimidate subordinates: critics of the campaign have been threatened with termination of employment (See appendix at the bottom of this page). Tactics such as publicizing the names of non-participants has also been employed.

Secondly, the local United Way supports charities that discriminate in ways that are forbidden by our state and federal constitutions, and an internal University policy. The Indiana Bill of Rights states "No preference shall be given, by law, to any creed, religious society, or mode of worship; and no person shall be compelled to attend, erect, or support, any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry, against his consent." When administrators of a public institution divert public resources to fund-raise for a charity that refuses to serve atheists, they compel some state residents to support a creed against their consent, violating both Section 4 of the state constitution, and the first amendment to the United States Constitution. The Boy Scouts of America refuse to serve atheist children, and a portion of monies raised on campus for the United Way general fund goes to the Boy Scouts.

The Scouts also discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Only straight-identified boys and scout-masters are allowed to participate in scouting. The local chapter of Big Brothers/Big Sisters also discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation. Executive Memorandum D-1 forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation at Purdue University, which opens with the words "Purdue University is committed to maintaining an inclusive community which recognizes and values the inherent worth and dignity of every person; fosters tolerance, sensitivity, understanding, and mutual respect among its members; and encourages each individual to strive to reach his or her own potential." Fundraising for charities that openly discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation hardly fosters tolerance, sensitivity, understanding, and mutual respect.

In conclusion, as Indiana civil servants, our first responsibility is to serve all the residents of Indiana without bias, especially without bias based on sexual orientation or religion. When administrators at Purdue University divert some of its public resources to fund-raise for private charities that refuse to serve the gay-identified or atheist residents of Indiana, they abuse those citizens' tax dollars-- and their trust.

For more information, explore

Scouting for All.

United Way, university ignores policies.

Boy Scouts' stay at Purdue causes conflict.

 

 

Appendix

From the Chicago Free Press, 1 December 2004

PURDUE SUSPENDS AIDE OVER UNITED WAY BOYCOTT

By Gary Barlow

Staff writer

A Purdue University student has been suspended from h is job as a physics department assistant and may lose the job after objecting to Purdue's United Way campaign because the charity supports anti-gay groups such as the Boy Scouts.

Mike Sloothaak was placed on administrative suspension without pay Nov. 19 after protesting United Way solicitations from the Northwest Indiana university's president and Andrew Hirsch, head of the school's physics department.

Those solicitations included an email from the physics department in October that listed all physics graduate students and staff w ho hadn't returned their Unit ed Way pledge forms. The email was sent to everyone on the list and Sloothaak replied to the entire list, detailing his r easons for not contributing to the charity, principally that it supports groups su ch as the Boy Scouts, which bars gays.

"I respond every year," Sloothaak said. "I've never contributed and I always protest."

Sloothaak said he was given a vague warning about using "university resources&qu ot; to protest, after which he copied [at his own expense] about a dozen flyers objecting to the United Wa y and put them in his supervisor's mailbox. An hour later, Sloothaak said, he was suspended.

Sloothaak said Purdue officials use university resources such as email to solicit for the United Way, so he should be able to use those same methods to criticize the charity. He said a supervisor in the physics department told him, "Supporting the United Way is university business but criticizing it is not."

Sloothaak said, "It's just coercion. It's a state institution and I think it's wrong."

University spokesman Joe Bennett said he couldn't com ment specifically on Sloothaak's case because it inv olves personnel issues but said Purdue has clearly defined policies on use of the school's email system.

Bennett also noted the school prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and prohibits intimidation, interference or reprisals against students and staff who file complaints alleging discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Sloothaak's employment status is scheduled to be resolved by Dec. 3, acco rding to memos he's received from his supervisor.