The Montana Legislature's vote to kill an "intellectual diversity" bill last week is more than a triumph of reason, say academic freedom advocates. It's a triumph of political organizing and coalition building.

The bill, known as H.B. 525, was aimed at preventing teachers from indoctrinating students, a problem not known to exist in Montana. It would have required colleges in the state university system to set up diversity review committees and file annual reports. The bill was sponsored by a libertarian legislator, but its language was drawn from a model promoted by the Washington, D.C.-based conservative group American Council of Trustees and Alumni. With David Horowitz, ACTA is on a crusade to identify liberals, or even just registered Democrats, in higher education and get rid of them.

As soon as the bill was introduced, Montana education groups had it on their radar screens, says Terry Minow, political director for MEA/MFT, the merged state organization of the Montana Education Association and the Montana Federation of Teachers. "Through Stand Up for Education [a coalition created in 2003], we had established relationships and trust," she said.  That made it easier to marshal "a great collaborative effort among students, the university system, faculty, the League of Women Voters, the librarians, the ACLU.  All worked in a positive way to defeat the bill."

Students were the primary opponents. They passed resolutions in the student governance bodies. Many, Republicans and Democrats like, came to testify. They expressed offense at the notion of needing protection, they recoiled at the testimony of Anne Neal, ACTA director, who talked about a state she clearly didn't understand, says Minow.  And the students balked at a budget impact of $350,000 annually at a time when students desperately need help paying for college.

Minow gives high marks to the assistance MEA/MFT received from the national Free Exchange on Campus coalition, which was "fantastic in alerting us to what this was, in telling us how it has played out in other states, in analyzing the bill for us, and in creating talking points." If a bill like this crops up in your state legislature, arm yourself by visiting www.freeexchangeoncampus.org. [Barbara McKenna]

March 1, 2007