March/April 2008

No rest for the wary. Students and faculty had hardly found their way back to campus in January when bills to restrict faculty's control over their classroom began rolling out of state capitals. The count in mid-February, according to the Free Exchange on Campus Legislation Tracker, was 10 bills introduced or carried over from the prior legislative session in these states: Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.

The bills take two forms. One is so-called Academic Bill of Rights legislation to ensure "balance" in the classroom, for campus speakers, in the grading of students, and in the hiring, promoting and firing of faculty members. This model is the brainchild of David Horowitz and appeared in New York and West Virginia. It made the rounds in 2007, but did not get traction with any state legislature.

The other form of proposed legislation seeks to ensure "intellectual diversity" in the classroom and on campus. Its language comes from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA).This year, the intellectual diversity bills also go by the name of "sunshine acts," requiring extensive and expensive annual reports to the legislature and postings on institutional Web sites.

Thus far this year, bills in Colorado and Indiana have come and gone. In the other states, faculty and students are mobilizing to see that the bills are sent packing.

Horowitz over the top. The annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Committee took place in Washington, D.C., Feb. 7-9. CPAC 2008 was an influential gathering of conservative activists who meet yearly to identify and promote their issues. On Feb. 9, Horowitz ran a panel, "Liberal Bias on Campus: The Challenge to Restore Balance to Our Universities," which apparently gave even like-minded friends in the audience pause. "Much of what he says is complete nonsense," writes Outside the Beltway conservative blogger James Joyner. "The suggestion that American politicians like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are virtually indistinguishable from totalitarian dictators and that their wish is to line those who disagree along walls and shoot them is simply appalling. And, yet, such outrages were greeted with more than a modicum of applause."

An injury to one is an injury to all. One of the foremost scholars on academic freedom raises the alarm on "ominous new pressures" threatening free expression. More grave than threats from government intervention, writes Robert M. O'Neil in a Feb. 8 Chronicle of Higher Education commentary, are those from corporate and private sources. O'Neil is former president of the University of Virginia and a founder of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. "The need for better understanding of academic freedom-starting with those who benefit from and depend most upon it-represents a crucial and vital imperative," he says, adding: "What happens to one, or a few, could happen to others, even to those who consider their views wholly conventional and their positions thus secure."

"Why I Teach." Free Exchange on Campus, the coalition of 22 organizations co-founded by the AFT, challenged its academic bloggers to explain why they teach and why academic freedom is important to that activity. The response has been overwhelming-40 posts and counting. To read, or to contribute, go to the Campus Voices page of Free Exchange and scroll down.