What the fsck is WRONG with the far right?
Feb. 1st, 2005 07:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
docwebsterBill could limit open debate at colleges
Lawmaker says profs are pushing agendas
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Kathy Lynn Gray
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Legislation that would restrict what university professors could say in their classrooms was introduced yesterday in Ohio.
Judging from reactions in other states where similar bills have been considered, controversy wont be far behind.
Marion Sen. Larry A. Mumpers "academic bill of rights for higher education" would prohibit instructors at public or private universities from "persistently" discussing controversial issues in class or from using their classes to push political, ideological, religious or anti-religious views.
Senate Bill 24 also would prohibit professors from discriminating against students based on their beliefs and keep universities from hiring, firing, promoting or giving tenure to instructors based on their beliefs.
Mumper, a Republican, said many professors undermine the values of their students because "80 percent or so of them (professors) are Democrats, liberals or socialists or card-carrying Communists" who attempt to indoctrinate students.
"These are young minds that havent had a chance to form their own opinions," Mumper said. "Our colleges and universities are still filled with some of the 60s and 70s profs that were the anti-American group. Theyve gotten control of how to give people tenure and so the colleges continue to move in this direction."
Joan McLean, a political-science professor at Ohio Wesleyan University, said Mumpers legislation is misguided and would have a chilling effect on the free-flowing debate that is a hallmark of democracy.
"This is not the kind of democracy we think were spreading when we hear President Bushs words. What were celebrating is our ability to not control information."
Besides, McLean said, who would define what issues could not be discussed?
The language of Mumpers bill comes from a 2003 booklet by conservative commentator David Horowitz that lays out how students can
persuade universities to adopt the "bill of rights." The booklet says it is "dedicated to restoring academic freedom and educational values to Americas institutions of higher learning."
The issue has gone national.
Horowitz created Students for Academic Freedom, a group based in Washington that has chapters on 135 campuses, to promote his views.
On the other side, the American Association of University
Professors, which has thousands of members at hundreds of campuses, argues that eliminating controversial issues from courses waters down academic freedoms.
Mumper said hes been investigating the issue for months and has heard of an Ohio student who said she was discriminated against because she supported Bush for president.
"I think the bill asks that colleges and universities be fair in their approach to their education of students," Mumper said. "They need to have their rights defended and need to be respected by faculty and administrators."
In a Kenyon College publication, President S. Georgia Nugent called Horowitzs thinking "a severe threat" to academic freedom.
"I see this so-called bill of rights, the platform that he has constructed, as one that would explicitly introduce into college and
university appointments a kind of political litmus test," she said.
Mumper said he will "push this all the way" so that its approved by either the legislature or by individual universities.
When a similar proposal was considered in the Colorado legislature last year, it was withdrawn after state universities agreed to some of its principles. The issue also has been debated in Indiana and considered in Congress.
Lawmaker says profs are pushing agendas
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Kathy Lynn Gray
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Legislation that would restrict what university professors could say in their classrooms was introduced yesterday in Ohio.
Judging from reactions in other states where similar bills have been considered, controversy wont be far behind.
Marion Sen. Larry A. Mumpers "academic bill of rights for higher education" would prohibit instructors at public or private universities from "persistently" discussing controversial issues in class or from using their classes to push political, ideological, religious or anti-religious views.
Senate Bill 24 also would prohibit professors from discriminating against students based on their beliefs and keep universities from hiring, firing, promoting or giving tenure to instructors based on their beliefs.
Mumper, a Republican, said many professors undermine the values of their students because "80 percent or so of them (professors) are Democrats, liberals or socialists or card-carrying Communists" who attempt to indoctrinate students.
"These are young minds that havent had a chance to form their own opinions," Mumper said. "Our colleges and universities are still filled with some of the 60s and 70s profs that were the anti-American group. Theyve gotten control of how to give people tenure and so the colleges continue to move in this direction."
Joan McLean, a political-science professor at Ohio Wesleyan University, said Mumpers legislation is misguided and would have a chilling effect on the free-flowing debate that is a hallmark of democracy.
"This is not the kind of democracy we think were spreading when we hear President Bushs words. What were celebrating is our ability to not control information."
Besides, McLean said, who would define what issues could not be discussed?
The language of Mumpers bill comes from a 2003 booklet by conservative commentator David Horowitz that lays out how students can
persuade universities to adopt the "bill of rights." The booklet says it is "dedicated to restoring academic freedom and educational values to Americas institutions of higher learning."
The issue has gone national.
Horowitz created Students for Academic Freedom, a group based in Washington that has chapters on 135 campuses, to promote his views.
On the other side, the American Association of University
Professors, which has thousands of members at hundreds of campuses, argues that eliminating controversial issues from courses waters down academic freedoms.
Mumper said hes been investigating the issue for months and has heard of an Ohio student who said she was discriminated against because she supported Bush for president.
"I think the bill asks that colleges and universities be fair in their approach to their education of students," Mumper said. "They need to have their rights defended and need to be respected by faculty and administrators."
In a Kenyon College publication, President S. Georgia Nugent called Horowitzs thinking "a severe threat" to academic freedom.
"I see this so-called bill of rights, the platform that he has constructed, as one that would explicitly introduce into college and
university appointments a kind of political litmus test," she said.
Mumper said he will "push this all the way" so that its approved by either the legislature or by individual universities.
When a similar proposal was considered in the Colorado legislature last year, it was withdrawn after state universities agreed to some of its principles. The issue also has been debated in Indiana and considered in Congress.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
I've I'd had to grow up with that last name...
Date: 2005-02-02 02:44 am (UTC)Oh Bloody Hell.
Date: 2005-02-02 03:25 am (UTC)*stomps off for a time-out*
The question we hear seldom asked it...
Date: 2005-02-02 03:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-02 05:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-02 05:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-02 04:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-02 05:41 am (UTC)This whole bully in victim's clothing is an old trick and is how christianity sent Europe into darkness in the first place. Hey, I was there, after all. Trust me on this one.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-02 07:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-02 11:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-02 12:36 pm (UTC)And jesus christ. The only agenda is debate. If these people WENT TO COLLEGE they'd see that it's mostly, if not always, fair. Kids aren't retards. They're in college. They've formed their opinions already.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-02 02:08 pm (UTC)At the time I was learning far more from the guys were were in college with me who'd just gotten back from fighting in the rice paddies of VietNam. Of course they were as wacky as the professors in my father's mind.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-02 04:04 pm (UTC)The media already does a pretty good job of covering the more egregious offenses by universities (grade inflation, violent criminals as guest lecturers, etc.). Rather than just be lazy about it, parents and prospective students should investigate these schools, pay attention to the news, and vote with their feet and wallets.
This is no place for the law to get involved.