February 2007

Academic freedom questions at SMU Faculty at Southern Methodist University in Texas are up in arms over talks to determine whether SMU will serve as the site of the George W. Bush presidential library. As first reported in the SMU newspaper, the Daily Campus, the administration’s negotiations with the presidential library search committee have been conducted under a veil of secrecy, leading many to wonder if the future library will reflect the values of the academic institution or the imperial presidency.

In November, two professors of theology let the cat out of the bag in an opinion piece, "The George W. Bush Library: Asset or albatross?" Having gotten wind of the talks, professors Bill McElvaney and Susanne Johnson asked why the campus community was not being allowed to participate in a discussion that would have an enormous financial and cultural impact on the university. Even if it makes perfect sense for SMU to house the presidential library, they wrote, such a conversation could help air community concerns about its mission:

"Given the secrecy of the Bush administration and its virtual refusal to engage with those holding contrary opinions, what confidence could be had in the selection of presidential papers made available to the library? Unless the Bush library philosophy is radically different from the already proven track record of isolation, the library will be little more than a center for the preservation and protection of privileged presidential papers. What would that mean for academic integrity based on open inquiry?"

On Dec. 21, the university disclosed that it was close to a deal. This announcement brought 150 faculty (out of 600) back to the campus for a special faculty senate meeting convened during winter break, the New York Times reported. They voiced a range of concerns, "particularly on whether the school’s academic freedom and political independence might appear compromised by an association with not only the Bush library but also a museum that would accompany it." An Inside Higher Ed article gives more details about faculty concerns. Despite being hosted by SMU, the library and museum would be under authority of the National Archives and Records Administration and a separate public policy institute would report to a Bush foundation.

ABOR on the radar screen
The Academic Bill of Rights (ABOR) awakes from winter dormancy this month as state legislatures resume operations. According to Free Exchange on Campus’s Megan Fitzgerald, ABOR-like bills have been introduced in, Kentucky, Missouri and Montana. Similar bills are in the wings in Arizona, Indiana and Virginia. Some of these bills are more intrusive than others, but all bear watching. As the father of ABOR, David Horowitz, bragged to Inside Higher Ed last year, "In any red state controlled by Republicans, I can get hearings." Mindful of that, the coalition of groups that formed Free Exchange on Campus one year ago is preparing to mobilize students and faculty to block these bills.

Speaking of David Horowitz
The author of last year’s exercise in academic character assassination, The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America, is gearing up to release another "screaming screed," as a blogger on the Free Exchange on Campus blog so artfully puts it. It is due out Feb. 25 and is called Indoctrination U: The Left's War Against Academic Freedom. According to the book description on Amazon, the book chronicles Horowitz’s Academic Bill of Rights campaign and the reaction of "professor unions and academic associations, whose leaderships have been taken over by the political left." Our insiders tell us, however, that the book is likely to be a recycling of postings from the Horowitz Web site, FrontpageMag, where Horowitz has been running a series called, coincidentally, Indoctrination U. It features profiles of women’s or ethnic studies programs at institutions like Columbia, Colorado (Boulder), Temple and Arizona State. The profiles are based on online selective course descriptions, exaggerations and misrepresentations (check it out). Rest assured, the folks at Free Exchange are gearing up for a reprise of the Horowitz Fact Checker, their response to The Profess