By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.com
October 26, 2026
Long ago, when I was executive director of what is now the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, I used to tell audiences a joke.
“If you agree with us only 80% of the time, you should give us money,” I’d say, then pause to set up the punchline. “And if you agree with us only 50% of the time, you belong on our board.”
It always drew a laugh.
But in using it, I also was making a serious point—namely that the ACLU cared less about who won or lost a particular debate than we did about making sure everyone had a chance to speak.
That everyone had the same rights under the law.
The joke had truth to it. The board members during my time—1998 to 2004—made up a fractious bunch.
With Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and a couple of folks disgusted by politics in general and political parties in particular among them, they argued at length about the issues of the day. These people were not built to march in unison.
That’s why I used to tell another joke to close friends.
“If you locked two ACLU members in a room, an hour later they would emerge having formed three factions,” I’d say, ruefully.
But on the organization’s fundamental mission—the defense of an individual’s rights, regardless of how noxious that individual’s views might be—the board and the staff stood as one.
That’s what makes the latest news from my old shop so distressing.
The Indianapolis Star broke a story about the dysfunction at the ACLU of Indiana—a story that Olivia O’Neal of The Statehouse File built upon ACLU of Indiana pauses new director’s start date, launches external review | Politics | thestatehousefile.com.
The ACLU’s entire legal team and other staff members have left the organization. The departing staffers say that the board and the incoming executive director plan to divert the ACLU from its historic mission. The board and the new executive director say the lawyers and others are overreacting or misinterpreting stray comments.
I won’t claim to know with certainty any more than what I’ve read about the dispute.
I’ve been gone from the organization for more than 20 years. Few people with whom I worked are still there and I haven’t talked with them in a long time.
That said, my inclination is to believe the attorneys and others who have left, rather than the board and incoming executive director.
Normally, I likely would go the other direction, because being the executive director of the Indiana ACLU is a hard job and causing consternation among the ranks is part of the gig. During my tenure, there were people—including members of the litigation team—who weren’t thrilled with my leadership.
And that’s okay.
It’s every person’s right to complain about the boss.
What persuades me that this is something well beyond the norm is the resignation of ACLU Legal Director Ken Falk.
Ken was the legal director when I was the executive director. We did not always agree, but I always respected both his integrity and his acumen.
One of the best constitutional lawyers in the country, he’s not the sort of guy to misinterpret things.
Nor is he prone to overreaction.
What’s more, his devotion to the ACLU and its mission runs so deep that I know that the only way he would have resigned is if he felt he had no other honorable choice.
And while I may not have definite knowledge about the specifics of this particular dispute, I do know this.
The ACLU—at either the state or the national level—needs to fix this fast.
The ACLU—often the only barricade against government overreach—always is an important organization.
But at this moment in Indiana’s and America’s history, when so many public officials seem determined to curtail individual rights that once were considered sacrosanct, the ACLU is essential.
We had our internal disputes and debates when I was the Indiana ACLU’s chief, but we always found ways to work through them.
We did so because we were grownups … and because we realized our duty to protect individual rights and the human spirit was too important to indulge in prolonged intramural squabbles.
If anything, the challenges to individual rights are even greater now, which makes the ACLU’s mission even more essential.
Too essential for this sort of foolishness.
John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. The views expressed are those of the author only and should not be attributed to Franklin College. Also, the views and opinions expressed are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Indiana Citizen or any other affiliated organization.
