About
It’s always good to know who’s behind a blog.
I’m a Professor of Law and Policy in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. (Quite a mouthful!) I’m a member of IUPUI’s Philanthropic Studies faculty, a Faculty Fellow with both the Center for Religion and American Culture in the School of Liberal Arts and the Tobias Center of the Kelley School of Business, and an adjunct professor of political science.
Before coming to IUPUI in 1998, I had several careers: I practiced real estate, administrative and business law in Indianapolis, Indiana, served as the city’s Corporation Counsel, and in 1980, was the Republican candidate for Indiana’s then 11th Congressional District seat. I was President of Kennedy Development Services, a real estate development company, from 1987-1992, when I became Executive Director of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, a position I held until I joined the faculty of SPEA.
Elsewhere on this page, there are links to the various books I’ve written, and most of my scholarly articles are posted under “Academic Articles” for anyone who is interested.
For several years, I was a regular columnist for the Indianapolis Star, in addition to being a frequent contributor to other periodicals, and I used this site basically as a place to “park” my columns and speeches. Beginning in February, 2011, I intend to make this site my primary outlet—and I welcome your feed-back, and especially inclusion on your own blogrolls if you like what you read here.
For those who are interested in more detail, a complete C.V. is posted here.
This website has been designed and is maintained by one of my sons, whose patience with and tolerance for his mother’s technological disabilities is greatly appreciated.
My most recent book, American Public Service: Constitutional and Ethical Foundations (Jones and Bartlett) is a textbook. College instructors interested in adopting it should contact the publisher. My previous books, What’s a Nice Republican Girl Like Me Doing at the ACLU? (Prometheus), Free Expression: A Documentary History (Greenwood), To Market, To Market: Reinventing Indianapolis (with Ingrid Ritchie; University Press of America), Pickin’ Fights with Thunderstorms (Kern), and Charitable Choice at Work: Faith-Based Partnerships in the States (with Wolfgang Bielefeld; Georgetown), God and Country: America in Red and Blue (Baylor), and Distrust American Style: Diversity and the Crisis in Public Confidence (Prometheus) are all available through Amazon.com or through the respective publishers.
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#1 by JERRY SCHLOSSBERG - August 30th, 2009 at 10:36
I HAVE ENJOYED YOUR ARTICALS IN THE STAR.YOUR FATHER WAS MY FATHER CLOSEST PAL IN ANDERSON TO MY DAD.iN CASE YOU DID NOT KNOW HE WAS YOUR GOD FATHER.I MOVED TO INDY WHEN MY CHILDREN NEEDED A JEWISH EDUCATION.
IT WOULD BOTH MEN HAPPY TO FIND OUT I HAVE 3 GREAT GRAND CHILDREN.
LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR NEXT ARTICAL.
#2 by Ronnie Curd - September 13th, 2009 at 09:59
I really, really like the way you talk.
#3 by Whitnee Hidalgo - October 20th, 2010 at 13:17
First off I would like to say the excerpt I have read from your book God and Country were amazing. I love your political insight. I also wanted to contact you because Karen Celestino told me you would be taking a group to Rally to Restore Sanity at the end of this month. I am very interested in attending; please contact me if you wouldn’t mind adding to your traveling group. Thank you and please keep creating enlightening literature.
#4 by Mary McCullough - October 30th, 2010 at 09:17
I got a great laugh from the letters to the editor in today’s Star (Sat., Oct 30) with regard to the comments about “old, angry white guys.” For some years I’ve noticed old men (my age and older) are more & more narrow-minded, opinionated and rude to anyone who doesn’t share their beliefs. My girlfriends & I have laughed about them many times….many of my girlfriends are married to some of them! However, you don’t dare say it in public or to them, there’s no way you can change their minds. I was in line recently for about 10 minutes and laughed internally the whole time due to 2 old men arguing politics, one D & one R, and never were they to agree — couldn’t wait to get to my car so I could laugh out loud in private. Those are the attitudes that have caused our country to get in such trouble! I admit I’ve seen a few old ladies so angry they spit when they talked, but mostly old men….what the heck are we to do with them?
#5 by Jonathan Cooksey - January 10th, 2011 at 12:03
Ms. Kennedy: I have been a fan of yours for many years now and have followed your commentary in the Indpls. Star. Your opinions in many cases mirror those of my own. Please, Please, keep up the GOOD WORK. Thank you for tirelessly educating people that we do NOT have to tolerate intolerance, the Nanny State, The Religious and Far Right, ad nauseum. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
#6 by Marc Grossberg - January 25th, 2011 at 14:48
Sheila, very long time – decades – no see (from AJC days) and when you ran for Congress/ Happened to run across your blog. Let’s get back in touch. Still a yellow dog Democrat and still practicing law – at Thompson & Knight in Houston.
#7 by Leora Porter - February 7th, 2011 at 19:15
I just read the last paragraph saying it was your last submission (in your gay rights submission), and I realized you meant what you had said in your subject line. This is sad for me. Yvonne Bowman (former colleague) has forwarded to me many of your submissions for a few years now. I see you have your blog and several ways of communicating with you. I just have come to fully appreciate your gifted command of the English language, combined with your brilliant weaving of what might appear as disparate facts, But in the intersection of factoids you reveal what is then an inescapable perspective/analysis/conclusion… on some life phenomena that truly matters to our human existence. I have agreed with so many, most of the positions you have taken. I just really feel well represented in your voice. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to travel with you into the open spaces of clear thinking. You thread the facts in such a way that the pearls of truth do in fact come together. Ok that’s my thank you.
#8 by shekenne - February 7th, 2011 at 20:44
Thanks for the VERY kind words!
I’ll still be sending Yvonne my longer posts for distribution, but I hope you’ll bookmark the blog and become part of what I hope will be a conversation rather than a monologue!
#9 by Leora - February 13th, 2011 at 19:15
I’ve not gotten into blogging, but I’d really appreciate being on your distribution list for your monthly article. If not, I’ll continue to get them via Yvonne. Thanks.
#10 by shekenne - February 13th, 2011 at 21:45
I’ll add you to my distribution list.
#11 by Tom Bolles - February 14th, 2011 at 09:45
Sheila,
It was with great sadness that I read your last column in the Indpls Star this morning. Also, sorry to miss you @ the 50th reunion last Sept.
Hope all is well with you and yours. Vicki & I are enjoying the good life in northern IN.
Tom
ps. Although your views and mine were not always on the same page, I will miss the thought provoking views and your well spoken style
#12 by shekenne - February 14th, 2011 at 10:03
Thanks, Tom! (It has been a long time!)
You can always join the conversation here at http://www.sheilakennedy.net. I’ll also be doing a monthly column for the IBJ.
#13 by Dale Bertelson - February 14th, 2011 at 10:17
Sheila:
I am really sad that your column will no longer be published in the Star. It was among a very few that actually provided a factual and thoughtful voice for those of us in Indiana who have chosen not to drink the Kool-Aid.
#14 by shekenne - February 14th, 2011 at 11:34
Thanks for the kind words. I hope you will visit this blog often!
#15 by Jon Palmer - February 14th, 2011 at 17:08
I am sorry to see you are not writing for the Star anymore. I usually disagree with you 100% of the time, but I do like your thoughts and arguments. On gay marriage, why not a civil union law for any two humans, a position Pres. Obama supports? Why the push to use the word “marriage”? Will Indiana ever look at that? Probably not unless forced to by the courts or a big swing in public opinion or make up of the Dems in the legislature Good luck in the future.
#16 by Marvin Needler - February 14th, 2011 at 18:55
I was very disappointed to read the last paragraph of your editorial today – your last column for the Star. I have always made a point of reading your editorials. Just to mention one of special elucidation for me was titled Constitution 101 (May 2010); it made a clear delineation between religious expression in the “public square” and the “public sector”. Yes, I must have skipped that lesson. Please keep these great essays coming, by some medium. Best, Marvin.
#17 by Greg and Wendy Phillips - February 14th, 2011 at 22:06
The Star will be less interesting without your clear and insightful voice. You speak for many other people and deserve to be heard by a broader audience. Thanks for adding sanity and reasonableness to the public discourse on so many vital issues.
#18 by shekenne - February 14th, 2011 at 22:37
Thank you so much!
#19 by Julia - March 1st, 2011 at 14:16
Just read your article, “The Language of Crazy” in which you discuss the power that language has. You mention the terrible consequences that have resulted from young people being taunted for being homosexual, and you refer to the shooting in Arizona as possibly resulting from hate speech. I am in agreement with you. I am not a supporter of Jan Brewer, but you lost me when you referred to her as “intellectually challenged”. I do not understand your use of name-calling in a piece that denounces it. Can’t you simply state her position and let that stand on its own? Isn’t “intellectually challenged” a euphemism, or pc term, for “mentally retarded”? As a former special education teacher, sister of a mentally retarded man, and grandma to a boy whose best friend is constantly taunted with the term “retard” because he is hearing impaired and has speech problems as a result, I am sensitive to this term and its use as an insult. Please don’t let your message be lost or overlooked because of your hypocrisy in using name-calling in an article that condemns it.
#20 by Jonathan Cooksey - May 16th, 2011 at 13:42
I saw something in the Star yesterday 5-15-2011, that scares me to death. Maybe you saw it too? On the front page there was a story about how our Indiana Supremes voted 3-2 in favor of warrantless house searches and said if we don’t like it to take the police to court???? The Supremes said they didn’t want the cops getting hurt. Ummmm. Excuse me? What happened to the 4th Amendment? I realize that the Patriot Act grants no knock warrants for subjects of terrorist investigations and/
#21 by shekenne - May 16th, 2011 at 14:03
I had precisely the same reaction when I read the Star; however, my son (a lawyer who most definitely does not like the Patriot Act and whose wife is an ACLU lawyer who was equally alarmed) said that the court’s reasoning was that people had other remedies when police entered their homes illegally. In other words, given the potential for harm during a violent confrontation, the better approach would be for the homeowner to sue for civil damages. The dissent felt the decision was too broad–that it should still have allowed for defense in “egregious” situations. While I still have qualms, I am less upset given the fact that the court endorsed alternative remedies and recognized that police must act in accordance with the law, just like everyone else.
#22 by M - June 23rd, 2011 at 12:31
I read a couple of your posts and then read your bio. Your posts make sense considering you are clearly such a complete lefty. Good luck with that.
#23 by James M. Hayes - May 9th, 2012 at 16:49
Sheila,
Huge fan of your work and love today’s post. You are so right on so many, MANY levels!
Keep writing and we will keep reading and reacting!
James M.
#24 by Joseph R Dell’Aquila, PhD - September 1st, 2012 at 11:15
Your article “Music for World-Class Cities” was excellent. The fact that you could actually produce a factual dollars-and-cents assessment of the financial importance of a first class Orchestra will, hopefully, open some eyes in the business community. I realize that you have reasons for where you put your articles, but I just couldn’t hold myself back from suggesting that you publish the article in the Star and IBJ. Thank you.
Personally I have written comments to IBJ, the Indpls
Star and the Musicians’ petition.
Joseph R. Dell’Aquila, PhD
3055 Meeting House Lane
Indianapolis, IN 46222-1841
317 925-9806
#25 by Lynda Breiter - September 1st, 2012 at 21:04
Please consider joing the ISO Board. Maybe you can bring some sanity.
#26 by Brent - September 17th, 2012 at 02:40
Looking forward to reading more of your articles. I’m an avid reader of your site.
#27 by norma baxter brown - November 17th, 2012 at 20:19
i am new to your writing…thank you….i enjoyed it. i will be back.
norma b brown
#28 by Keri - January 30th, 2013 at 15:08
Sheila,
I’ve been following your blog for over two years. I love it. LOVE it. You are refreshing and honest.
Though, it’s kind of sad that I go to you for news before the newspapers.
Here’s some fun news that you might like. Not sure if it’s spread up north yet from my fair city: LGBTQ Flashmob Wedding tomorrow night (Thursday) at the Buskirk, officiated by Mayor Kruzan.
Here is the best soundbite about hosting this mass wedding from the following article.
“This is a message that we will not endorse the staining of our Constitution with discrimination,” said county council President Geoff McKim, who will be joined by council colleague Rick Dietz. “A Constitution is supposed to be for setting up how we will govern. This would be polluting our Constitution.”
http://tinyurl.com/admjtzs
#29 by shekenne - January 30th, 2013 at 16:00
Keri–Thanks for the kind words. I had heard about the mass weddings, and–obviously–heartily approve. I’m beginning to be cautiously optimistic about our chances of defeating this hateful amendment….
#30 by Matt - April 6th, 2013 at 09:10
Prof. Kennedy – I took your grad-level con law class many moons ago, and was in a discussion with someone who had a…lack of understanding regarding some pretty basic tenets of the Constitution. I thought about getting them the book you used in class – but couldn’t remember the name of it. Any ideas what it might have been? It was an easy read – less than 200 pages. Thanks – keep up the great work!