The AFL-CIO has swelled the chorus of education, civil liberties and student groups that are speaking out against the so-called Academic Bill of Rights (ABOR). At the labor organization's executive council meeting in San Diego this week, the AFL-CIO leaders passed a resolution stating that ABOR, and its cousin, the Student Bill of Rights, represent "an unacceptable infringement on free speech and an unwarranted intervention of government into academic decision making."

ABOR is the brainchild of conservative activist David Horowitz, who is achieving some notoriety this month with the publication of his book, The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America." Horowitz is on a crusade to eradicate what he alleges is liberal bias from the college classroom. ABOR has been the primary weapon of his attack.

The AFL-CIO resolution calls ABOR the "misnamed" Academic Bill of Rights. "Like so many of these conservative creations, the name is about as accurate as 'paycheck protection' or 'Taxpayers Bill of Rights,'" says William Scheuerman, AFT vice president and president of the United University Professions/AFT/AAUP, which represents faculty and staff at the State University of New York.

As the AFL-CIO resolution notes, ABOR would "provide for government monitoring of curriculum, including reading materials in the classroom, to ensure that right-wing ideas are given more prominence; monitoring of faculty hiring practices to ensure that more conservative faculty members are hired; and an easing of longstanding procedures to protect faculty members from unsubstantiated student complaints."

It has been introduced in 24 state legislatures, but passage of the bill by entire legislative bodies is proving a tough sell. Just last week, a bipartisan vote of 15-18 in the South Dakota senate killed the bill.

The U.S. system of higher education continues to be the envy of the world due largely to the free exchange of ideas and viewpoints in the classroom, points out Lawrence Estrada, an associate professor at Western Washington University. At the end of February, WWU faculty became the newest AFL-CIO higher education affiliate when they voted to be represented by United Faculty of Washington State/AFT/NEA. Estrada, who is director of the American Cultural Studies program, is named on Horowitz's 101 Most Dangerous Academics blacklist.

"Mr. Horowitz's present bill is an attempt to introduce only extreme right-wing notions and credos within the classroom and to have the government sanction what can be stated or not stated," says Estrada. "Thought control runs counter to both liberal and conservative ideologies.  The AFL-CIO resolution acts to preserve academic freedom and keep our colleges and universities open to all ideas."

Faculty are fighting the ABOR campaigns wherever they emerge. The AFT has joined with other groups to form the Free Exchange on Campus coalition to provide information on the damage ABOR does to academic freedom and to students deprived of the valuable exchange of ideas that is so essential to higher education. "Students from working families—most of whom attend public colleges and universities—would be among those most negatively affected by replacing academic professionalism with political ideology," the resolution points out.

"With labor's help, we can keep the thought police from interfering in our colleges and universities," says Scheuerman. [Barbara McKenna]

March 1, 2006