"A new low."

That's what Paul Levitt, chair of the faculty affairs committee at the University of Colorado (CU), hears each time scandal strikes his campus. After charges involving alcohol and sexual violence in the sports program and suspicion over fundraising records, now it's academic freedom in the spotlight as the issue du jour.

From the state capitol, the newly formed Republican Study Committee of Colorado (RSCC), a group of legislators intent on promoting "core Republican values," targeted tenure and academic freedom as top priorities this spring. Republican Minority Leader Sen. Mark Hillman compares the professoriate to "inmates running the asylum" and insists that lawmakers need to get more involved on campus. Questioning tenure seems to have become a favorite way to wrest control from academicians.

Despite these continued threats, Dave Sanger, president of the Colorado AFT, remains hopeful. While Republican Gov. Bill Owens vetoed "anything that was the least bit progressive" regarding higher education during the last legislative session, at least the proposals forced him to publicly take a stand. There is a new energy in organizing as faculty grow increasingly concerned over the threatening climate in their state, and that could translate into a more effective union voice and eventual influence, even in the state House.

Already, the AFT has made a difference at Metropolitan State College of Denver, where a chartered local was established March 1. The Metro State Faculty Federation has gone from 16 to nearly 160 members in just over a year, reflecting the passion over protecting tenure rights there. Members were spurred to organize when the board of trustees rewrote the faculty handbook, suggesting a reduction in force (RIF) clause that would allow termination of faculty during budget crises without regard to tenure.

Faculty are beginning to realize the advantages of having a union. Interest in the union at the University of Colorado-Denver also has increased, says Sanger, and the AFT has fielded calls from interested faculty at Colorado State as well. He thinks the anti-tenure climate in the state, together with a perceived threat to academic freedom, may be a catalyst in motivating more and more faculty toward union membership. The faculty at colleges and universities "are seeing that they're vulnerable and under attack—and that organizing a union" is a sure way to combat such outside forces, agrees AFT state coordinator Mark Belkin.

Colorado has been a hotbed of controversy over academic freedom since 2003, when conservative activist David Horowitz made it the premiere site for the "Academic Bill of Rights," proposed legislation designed to counter what its proponents view as liberal bias in academia. Then-university president Elizabeth Hoffman avoided passage of the bill with a memorandum of understanding, pledging college administrators to be mindful of conservative/liberal balance among their faculty, and the legislation went away.

But fervor was revived with CU professor Ward Churchill's incendiary essay, published in 2001 but widely distributed in early 2005. In it, the tenured professor called September 11 World Trade Center victims "little Eichmanns," a reference to Nazi operative Adolf Eichmann. The governor called for Churchill's dismissal on the grounds that he supported terrorist activity, and the Legislature began to consider a tenure system some felt should guard against such ideology in the state education system. Academics defended Churchill's First Amendment rights and now the whole affair has shifted to the professor's integrity regarding research and credentials. He has been accused of plagiarism and falsely presenting himself as Native American—relevant because of his ethnic studies expertise and, some speculate, because of concern over minority hiring.

The university itself is conducting a tenure review process, which could cool the debate, particularly because CU's new president, Hank Brown, is a Republican trusted among conservative legislators behind the academic scrutiny movement. According to one faculty member, Brown, who moves into the president's office in August, has the respect of Denver legislators as well as the trust of the board of regents and the public. He is a former U.S. representative and senator, former president of the University of Northern Colorado, and has spoken in favor of tenure, academic freedom and faculty rights.

Levitt believes much of the firestorm over academic freedom is for show. "I'm really hoping that this Hank Brown can say to his Republican friends, 'Gentlemen, let us get on with the mission of education and teaching students, and quit trying to make cheap political points and stop the posturing.'"

It may be tough to slow the show, however. Although the majority Democrats nixed a bill to establish a state tenure review commission, the GOP study committee nevertheless suggests that every Republican legislator adopt its view on tenure—namely that the system should be scrutinized to prevent firebrands and, some suspect, particularly liberal ones, from being hired—and a host of other issues, including abortion, marriage rights and taxes. Republicans who stray from the agenda may find themselves out of office. "These kinds of losses are not necessarily bad," committee chair David Schultheis explained to the Denver Post, commenting on a loss by a (Republican) pro-choice candidate. "They purify the party." 

Meanwhile, in an attempt to keep the academic bill of rights at bay, Democrats put forth a counter bill to preserve academic freedom. It failed.

Again, Sanger turns hopeful. He plans to draft a new version of the legislation and try again in the next legislative session, which begins in January. [Virginia Kelly]

June 29, 2005