Bill Would Rein In [FL] Campus Dialogue

[RPankn]

Published Friday, February 25, 2005

By JOE FOLLICK
Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE -- Battling what he calls a "quiet prejudice" against conservative views on university campuses, a Florida lawmaker is proposing a "bill of rights" that some claim is an effort to stifle the academic freedoms the bill seeks to protect.

Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, filed House Bill 837 after he attended a meeting last year in St. Louis where well-known conservative activist David Horowitz railed against liberal biases on campus toward professors and students.

The bill borrows heavily from a template used in similar bills filed nationwide with the help of Horowitz's group, Students for Academic Freedom.

House Bill 837 promises to protect "free inquiry and free speech within the academic community." A portion of the bill says that students should not have their academic freedom "infringed upon by instructors who persistently introduce controversial matter into the classroom that has no relation to the subject of study and serves no legitimate pedagogical purpose." [Truly Orwellian because it's obvious the purpose of clause is to stifle academic freedom for a very sanitized, pro-U.S. worldview] Baxley said that simply means a science professor should stick to that topic and not let any digressions into other matters affect the class. [I didn't go to college in FL, thank God, but I don't remember my science class digressing into non-scientific topics, or any of my other classes doing the same for that matter. I wonder if Baxley has ever attended college.]

"I don't think it's the fact that (class discussion) is controversial that's the problem. The problem is inappropriate forums," Baxley said. "If the course is labeled as a political discourse on the evils of capitalism you expect that."

Baxley said he has no specific examples of problems in Florida beyond anecdotes. But he sees a trend of liberal proselytization on campuses. "What used to be an image in our universities as a place of open dialogue has moved to where we have a niche of totalitarianism almost where if you don't give the right answer (to meet the professor's political bent), you're out of the class or you get your grade knocked down."

Baxley says the bill would cut both ways, for example, protecting a student who supports abortion rights from retribution if he disagreed with a professor's anti-abortion stances.

But the bill worries academics who fear its true intent is to hinder any discourse out of the mainstream.

Pierre Ramond, chairman of the University of Florida faculty senate, said the bill is "dangerous."

"I think this is kind of an attempt to legislate what professors can and cannot say," said Ramond, a physics professor and director of the Institute for Fundamental Theory. Ramond said the fuzzy definition of "controversial" is the bill's largest problem.

"What's controversial? Who says it has no relationship to the subject of study? Who will tell if something has no `legitimate pedagogical purpose?' There are too many things the bill wants to define," Ramond said.

He added that stoking passions with what may be perceived as extreme views is a necessary teaching tool.

"You do not educate people with the dogma of the day," Ramond said. "You want to produce critical thinking. Shocking people with thoughts that appear to be out of left field might not be bad."

And Ramond said any stifling of discourse could hinder society's evolution.

"It wasn't too long ago that people thought other people of different races were not human and if you'd tried to teach against that, you probably would have been in trouble with this bill," Ramond said.

The bill would also make it a student's right to have their fees used on a "viewpoint-neutral basis with respect to substantive political and religious disagreements, differences and opinions."

"There is this kind of quiet prejudice that the leftist person or guest on campus gets the major auditorium and all the questions are screened and the conservative guest gets the little corner of the Fine Arts room and gets the open mike so everyone can let go on him," Baxley said.

The bill may bring a national debate to Florida. The liberal People for the American Way has put Students for Academic Freedom on its "Right Wing Watch," saying Horowitz has called universities "indoctrination centers for the political left." [Pot meet kettle, an indoctrinator of the Israeli hard right.]

SAF's Web site counters with accusations of universities blacklisting conservatives from teaching positions.

The bill's odds of success are unknown, but they're aided by Baxley's sponsorship. He is the chair of the House's Education Council. And earlier this week, Gov. Jeb Bush said Baxley was one of his closest allies in the Legislature.

Baxley said the bill was prescient given the recent uproar over University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill's statements in a book that complimented the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center [Whoa, whoa, whoa. His essay and book did no so thing.]. "He's certainly an example of the discourse (at universities). I'm not a person that wants him fired. I want him accountable. I don't want him giving someone an `F' because they won't say the president should be tried for war crimes," Baxley said. [Tell me where Ward Churchill said that.]


www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050225/NEWS/502250344/1134

[Moses]

Horowitz bill, which is based on ending discourse at Universities and is fascist, and is actually crafted to prevent any academic institution in the US from teaching anything but the Israeli point of view, was introduced in the House of Representatives last year as HR3077. That bill failed to make it out of the Senate. (As I recall, it may have passed the HOuse), so Horowitz has been active in getting it introduced in each state by pro-Israeli right wing legislators. Florida is clearly fertile ground for this bill. It was defeated in Missouri, (even in Missouri) but it may be that a noxious compromise bill was passed. The Ward Churchill issue was hyped in order to get this bill passed throughout the country.

Horowitz is an egomaniacal fascist working on behalf of Israeli interests. He is was and always has been a traitor to the US, a knowing one.

[RPankn]

Capitol bill aims to control ‘leftist’ profs

THE LAW COULD LET STUDENTS SUE FOR UNTOLERATED BELIEFS.

By JAMES VANLANDINGHAM
Alligator Staff Writer

TALLAHASSEE — Republicans on the House Choice and Innovation Committee voted along party lines Tuesday to pass a bill that aims to stamp out “leftist totalitarianism” by “dictator professors” in the classrooms of Florida’s universities.

The Academic Freedom Bill of Rights, sponsored by Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, passed 8-to-2 despite strenuous objections from the only two Democrats on the committee.

The bill has two more committees to pass before it can be considered by the full House.

While promoting the bill Tuesday, Baxley said a university education should be more than “one biased view by the professor, who as a dictator controls the classroom,” as part of “a misuse of their platform to indoctrinate the next generation with their own views.”

The bill sets a statewide standard that students cannot be punished for professing beliefs with which their professors disagree. Professors would also be advised to teach alternative “serious academic theories” that may disagree with their personal views.

According to a legislative staff analysis of the bill, the law would give students who think their beliefs are not being respected legal standing to sue professors and universities.

Students who believe their professor is singling them out for “public ridicule” – for instance, when professors use the Socratic method to force students to explain their theories in class – would also be given the right to sue. [Who hasn't felt a little embarassed when a professor subjected them to the Socratic method in front of class? When I was in grad school, there was a particular professor who used it often and being subjected to it was considered sort of a rite of passage.]

“Some professors say, ‘Evolution is a fact. I don’t want to hear about Intelligent Design (a creationist theory), and if you don’t like it, there’s the door,’” Baxley said, citing one example when he thought a student should sue.

Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, warned of lawsuits from students enrolled in Holocaust history courses who believe the Holocaust never happened. [This would be poetic justice considering Horowitz is behind bills like this.]

Similar suits could be filed by students who don’t believe astronauts landed on the moon, who believe teaching birth control is a sin or even by Shands medical students who refuse to perform blood transfusions and believe prayer is the only way to heal the body, Gelber added.

“This is a horrible step,” he said. “Universities will have to hire lawyers so our curricula can be decided by judges in courtrooms. Professors might have to pay court costs — even if they win — from their own pockets. This is not an innocent piece of legislation.”<br>
The staff analysis also warned the bill may shift responsibility for determining whether a student’s freedom has been infringed from the faculty to the courts.

But Baxley brushed off Gelber’s concerns. “Freedom is a dangerous thing, and you might be exposed to things you don’t want to hear,” he said. “Being a businessman, I found out you can be sued for anything. Besides, if students are being persecuted and ridiculed for their beliefs, I think they should be given standing to sue.”<br>
During the committee hearing, Baxley cast opposition to his bill as “leftists” struggling against “mainstream society.”

“The critics ridicule me for daring to stand up for students and faculty,” he said, adding that he was called a McCarthyist.

Baxley later said he had a list of students who were discriminated against by professors, but refused to reveal names because he felt they would be persecuted.

Rep. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, argued universities and the state Board of Governors already have policies in place to protect academic freedom. Moreover, a state law outlining how professors are supposed to teach would encroach on the board’s authority to manage state schools.

“The big hand of state government is going into the universities telling them how to teach,” she said. “This bill is the antithesis of academic freedom.”

But Baxley compared the state’s universities to children, saying the legislature should not give them money without providing “guidance” to their behavior.

“Professors are accountable for what they say or do,” he said. “They’re accountable to the rest of us in society … All of a sudden the faculty think they can do what they want and shut us out. Why is it so unheard of to say the professor shouldn’t be a dictator and control that room as their totalitarian niche?” [I wonder if Baxley understands the concept of tenure?]

In an interview before the meeting, Baxley said “arrogant, elitist academics are swarming” to oppose the bill, and media reports misrepresented his intentions.

“I expect to be out there on my own pretty far,” he said. “I don’t expect to be part of a team.”<br>
House Bill H-837 can be viewed online at www.flsenate.gov.


www.alligator.org/pt2/050323freedom.php#nosmileys

[Moses]

Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, warned of lawsuits from students enrolled in Holocaust history courses who believe the Holocaust never happened. [This would be poetic justice considering Horowitz is behind bills like this.]

This would be so great-- and for students who take "Jewish Studies" classes and are punished for being anti-zionist. This would make an excellent lawsuit.

[karpomrx]

More likely it will be,"Hey, Socrates, pass the hemlock!"

[Moses]

Heh heh. That's actually a good little image for this bill.

[RPankn]

[Just to give everyone an idea of who this Baxley character is, a local newspaper did a write up on him. Next time someone complains about the South being stereotyped, I'm giving them a copy of this article because I know in the Northeast, a politician like this would be laughed at and quickly find themselves ostracized.]


Here's a pic of the nut.

Published Sunday, March 27, 2005

Baxley Is On a Mission From God

Ocala's state legislator is a soldier defending today's conservative views.

By Joe Follick
Ledger Tallahassee Bureau

TALLAHASSEE -- Dennis Baxley has a mission statement from God tucked in his wallet at all times.

It's an 18th century hymn, titled "A Charge To Keep," and the Ocala Republican says it's guided him in the Florida House of Representatives as he pushed to save Terri Schiavo, advance Gov. Jeb Bush's education agenda and expand gun rights in the state:

A charge to keep I have,

a God to glorify . . .

To serve this present age,

My calling to fulfill;

O may it all my powers engage

To do my masters' will!

"That's it," Baxley said after reciting it in his corner office in the Capitol. "That's what I'm about."

"A Charge To Keep" is also the title of a book by President George W. Bush. Those two sources -- the GOP evangelism advanced by the Bush family and old-time religion fostered by Baxley's Southern Baptist pastor father -- have fueled Baxley's mission into the spotlight of this year's most controversial issues.

In his fifth year in the House, the 52-year-old funeral director has the starring role in the session's hottest passion plays. He sponsored the House bill that sought to intercede in saving Terri Schiavo. As the chairman of the House Education Council, he is the salesman for major Bush agenda items such as increased numbers of vouchers for students to attend religious schools and eliminating the voter mandates for class sizes.

He is sponsoring a bill that would allow citizens to shoot anyone in any place if they feel their lives are threatened. Another Baxley bill seeks to dampen the perceived liberal control of college classrooms.

Baxley described his role as that of "an adventurer, an idea guy."

"I don't really like the details."

He enjoys tremendous clout. At a recent press conference, Gov. Jeb Bush hugged Baxley and loudly proclaimed that he was one of his favorite legislators.

Baxley's conviction surfaces in an impatient rhetorical style that both he and his foes agree can turn abrasive. Baxley looked visibly agitated, for example, when Democratic Rep. Dan Gelber insisted during a committee hearing earlier this month that Baxley's Schiavo bill would make it impossible for parents to make a decision to end their child's suffering in a hopeless vegetative state.

"Are you advocating that parents should have the right to starve their children to death?" Baxley asked, his face flushed.

Baxley acknowledged that his passion gets the best of him at times.

"I have to apologize a lot. I'm very transparent. But I would rather deal with people that are transparent even if they say things that are offensive rather than people who are secretive and coy."

Gelber said this week that, despite Baxley's aggressive attacks, he admires his zeal.

"He came up to me later and said, `I was wrong on that,' " said Gelber, a Miami Beach lawyer. "He's an absolute believer. He didn't come up here to do little things or play around. I have a lot of respect for that." [There should be zero respect for crypto-fascists like Baxley; there should be nothing but contempt, ridicule and rebuke for people like him. But this is how spineless Florida Democrats are.]

Baxley's ideological opposite is Rep. Eleanor Sobel, a Jewish Democrat from Hollywood. She angrily confronted Baxley last year when he spent $1,200 to rent a theater so lawmakers could view the "The Passion of the Christ" for free.

Sobel said the movie is antisemitic and chastised Baxley.

"He said to me, `I love the Jews. If it wasn't for the Jews, we wouldn't have Jesus,' " Sobel said, adding that, despite their differences, she felt he was sincere and did not mean to be offensive.

"I don't know if he understands my viewpoints or where I'm coming from," Sobel said. "He's not arrogant. He's not mean. He's a jolly guy. I could see him as Santa even.

"It's very deceiving. His philosophy is dangerous."

Baxley is often an iconoclast in a world where lawmakers frequently bend to the whims of their party leaders. One of the first bills he sponsored sought to institute optional drug tests for lawmakers. He said legislators should be treated the same as his employees in the seven funeral homes he operates with a partner in Marion County. [This is one of my biggest peeves: people that believe government should be run like a business. It's a legislature -- a government body -- not a freakin' business!]

When most Republicans cowed under the heavy hand of then House Speaker Johnnie Byrd last year, Baxley emerged as the only Republican out of nearly 80 to join Democrats in a failed vote to buck Byrd and ban fund raising during special sessions.

Baxley's ethical conduct came under fire once after he pushed a bill that would have transferred regulation of funeral contracts away from the state agency that charged his companies with 556 violations of a law regulating the sale of contracts and cemetery plots.

No customers' policies were at risk, and Baxley's companies paid a $10,000 fine in 2003 and changed their accounting procedures.

"We never tried to avoid responsibility," he said.

Baxley said the investigation came after he'd killed a bill favored by then-comptroller Bob Milligan.

Baxley grew up as the second of three children in a home heavily influenced by his father, a Southern Baptist pastor whom Baxley called "an incurable capitalist."

Growing up in Daytona Beach, the family sold used cars and shored up rental buildings to make ends meet.

Baxley married his high school sweetheart, Ginette Begin, a Quebec native who became a naturalized citizen after they married. They had three sons.

Micah, 27, is a psychologist in residency in South Carolina. Justin, 26, helps run the funeral homes. Damon, 25, is a Marion County sheriff's deputy.

Baxley said his work as a funeral director made him part of the community and led to a stint as mayor of Belleview in the early 1980s. A failed run for county school board proved "the best thing that happened" since it allowed time to meet Jeb Bush, he said.

Baxley worked on Bush's unsuccessful 1994 gubernatorial campaign and on the winning side in 1998. He remembers picking up Bush at the Marion County airport and driving him to the International House of Pancakes, where they had coffee and discussed Florida's future.

Rep. George Albright, forced out by term limits in 2000, recruited Baxley to replace him.

Baxley's office is plastered with photos of President Bush and Gov. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. His copy of Bush's "A Charge To Keep" is personally autographed by the president. A handwritten note on a bureau from Gov. Bush reads, "You are a true blue reformer and friend."

The two siblings he adopted frames much of Baxley's view. Jeffrey, 18, is blind from being shaken as a baby. And Baxley often leaves Tallahassee in a rush to watch Renee, 15, play junior varsity basketball and softball.

He drew on the lot of the handicapped frequently as he defended the right of Terri Schiavo to live, insisting it's a short and dangerous moral hop from allowing Schiavo to die to allowing the handicapped to die as well.

Baxley chokes up talking about the sacrifices his family makes to allow him his role in Tallahassee

"One of the most painful parts of service to me is what they give up," he said. "I am a reluctant leader I was always home and I need my family around me. I just decided, if this is God's plan for me, he'll take care of them."

Baxley's political future seems bright. But he remains noncommittal about seeking another office once term limits force him from the House in 2008.

Despite the exhausting emotional battle over Schiavo and the other ideas he's championing, Baxley said he remained prepared for battle and explained his motivation.

"Deep personal faith, man," Baxley said. "It isn't about me. This is all about fulfilling my mission in life, my calling."


www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050327/NEWS/503270431/1004

[Moses]

As the chairman of the House Education Council, he is the salesman for major Bush agenda items such as increased numbers of vouchers for students to attend religious schools and eliminating the voter mandates for class sizes.

These are the types that Republican Governors are appointing to State Education Committees throughout the country. It would be hard to imagine a more adverse crowd to bringing about effective education, unless it is the neolib/con business crowd (who are appointed to the State Ed Boards).

Under the constitution, States are responsible for the provision of education, and the Governors Association has deliberately boosted their political power and are set to impose their political/business patronage schemes on public education.

There should be a mass rebellion against these governors and those they appoint, but people don't realize how powerful and destructive they are.

[Moses]

www.commondreams.org/views05/0328-30.htm

Targeted by Conservatives for Teaching Philosophy
House Bill Aims to Restrain Academic Scholars with Legal Threats
by Jacqueline Marcus <[e-mail]>

"Of what use is a philosopher who doesn't hurt anybody's feelings?" -- Diogenes

"One may view the history of philosophy as a history of heresy." -- Walter Kaufmann

Monday, March 28, 2005 -- In the Florida legislature, House Republicans, on the Choice and Innovation Committee, recently voted to pass a bill that threatens to restrain academic scholars..... Although the bill has two more committees to pass before it can be considered by the full House, it represents a growing threat against the very foundation of scholarly research. The intended goal of this bill is to portray professors as tyrannical monsters who terrorize Republican-conservative students, rendering them into poor, helpless victims under the authority of those, ah yes, Brutal Liberal Dictators!

Indeed, the phrasing of the bill is comical. It turns the essential meaning of "liberal education" upside down: "leftist totalitarianism" by "dictator professors" in university classrooms. How's this for an Orwellian twist? The bill is titled "The Academic Freedom Bill of Rights," sponsored by Representative Dennis Baxley, Republican of Ocala, Florida.

In this rather oppressive atmosphere, particularly if one lives in a conservative county, as I do, teaching philosophy is a dangerous occupation. It's not quite as dangerous as being a liberal journalist, but it has its risks.

I've written a cover piece for our local paper, New Times, entitled "The Politics of Restraint," on this subject because I felt it was important for the community to know that if college teachers clarify fact from fiction, if they explain the truth on the invasion of Iraq, that Saddam was not responsible for 9/11, there were no weapons of mass destruction, and therefore he could not have been an imminent threat to the U.S, conservatives howl in agony that the teacher is spreading "anti-Bush indoctrination."

If teachers dare to enlighten Republican students on Bush's anti-environmental policies that benefit polluting industries at the expense of the public's health, they're immediately tagged "Bush-bashers."

I, personally, was targeted by a group of Bush-supporting fundamentalists. As soon as they listed me on their web sites, I received a flood of hate e-mails from nutcases across the nation. The author of "Bush Bashing for a College Degree" not only attacked the philosophy course, she proceeded to condemn the entire humanities department and Western traditional philosophers as being "secular evil influences." Plato, Augustine, Kant, Nietzsche and J. S. Mill are unsuitable for study because they're EVIL, according to Jen Shroder.

Shroder wrongly claims that I yelled at my students, "If you like Bush or Limbaugh, LEAVE NOW." I admit, I like the sound of it, but it's flatly untrue. This woman has never attended my class. I have, however, mentioned to my students that the Bush administration's favorable take on Iraq is being played 24/7 on all the corporate media networks and talk radio shows.

This explains why conservatives are now going after college teachers. Given the massive media control, it's the last arena left where students are introduced to a humane and rational approach to serious moral issues, where they'll be exposed to critical analysis, such as examining how the Iraqis, students their own age, feel about the U.S. invasion, an evaluation which has been deliberately ignored from the American corporate media reports from day one of this invasion. Not surprising, my students had never considered what it would be like to be in Iraqi civilian shoes, to be occupied by foreign invaders. It was the first time anyone asked them to think about Iraqi families from an empathic angle.

After we discussed Plato's theory of Justice, I asked my students if Plato would agree or disagree with Bush's decision to invade Iraq. Most of them understood the connection between Plato's assessment of war and the fact that Iraq is the 2nd largest source of oil in the world. Plato argued that "the desire for more things will soon exhaust the resources of the community, and before long, we shall have to cut off a slice of our neighbor's territory ... and they will want a slice of ours. At this rate, neighbors will inevitably be at war. Wars have their origin in desires, which are the most fruitful source of evils both to individuals and states."

Conservative students have complained to each other: "How can she call herself a philosophy teacher when she doesn't allow students to express their opinions?"

Students labor under the false presumption that philosophy is about the expression of "their" opinions, and that all opinions are equally valid. Never mind that most students haven't read a single philosophy book in their entire lives. Never mind that they do not hold a single college degree on the subject. Degrees in philosophy are irrelevant to today's students. Generally, students don't value reading, which means that they don't value learning, and if they don't value learning, they don't value teachers. There are exceptions, thank goodness, but this downward trend of poor reading and writing skills is getting worse with every year that passes.

Nevertheless, college students believe that they have equal status with their professors. And that is how this movement began -- with the absurd notion that students' opinions, no matter how stupid or wrong those opinions may be, have as much validity as academic scholarship.

To reiterate the charge: Ah yes, poor conservatives are being terrorized and victimized by the Big Bad Liberal Teachers. How so?

Considering the lecture on Plato, you'd think that conservatives would be on Plato's side since Plato is a Moral Absolutist. Plato argued that "Justice does not entail harming others." Oh, oh, that doesn't sit well with war-monger conservatives. Regarding categorical imperatives, I equated Plato's definition of Justice with the Biblical Commandment, Thou Shall Not Kill. What's all the fuss about? Alas, conservative Christians talk big on the Ten Commandments, but do they really accept moral absolutism?

Given the brouhaha last election over conservative "moral values," I brought up the obvious contradiction between the pro-life position against abortion on the one hand, and on the other hand, unquestionable support for an unjustifiable invasion of Iraq that has led to over 100,000 Iraqi civilian deaths, mostly children. Moral Absolutism, I argued, calls for CONSISTENCY. Otherwise, if you allow for exceptions, it's no longer absolute. Make up your minds. Either you adhere to the moral imperative, or you're a relativist.

The Bush-supporting conservative students were not intimidated; they were raging mad at me for pointing out the contradiction. One student screamed in a fit of rage that "there are NO civilian deaths in Iraq!" In response, I asked, "What planet are you on?" All right, I confess to being a tad bit sarcastic. But come on! No civilian deaths?! What an idiot. So sue me! No wait! I'm kidding.

Another student demanded to take over my class. I swear, I'm not making this up!

A conservative student actually tried to push me aside at the beginning of class, dressed for the occasion in his tie and suit, with a digital camera, to deliver his Thou SHALL Kill presentation. It never occurred to him to discuss his proposal with me after class or during my office hours. He simply presumed that he was at equal status with the teacher, and that he has the "Academic Freedom" to take up precious class time with his flaky opinions on interpreting the word "kill" in the 6th Commandment.

I explained that students are paying to learn from an accredited teacher with degrees in philosophy/humanities. They're not paying to hear HIS opinions. The test will be on Plato. He stormed out of the class and then dropped out the next day. (Praise the Lord!)

Here's a follow-up question for Republican legislators: Some students still believe that Saddam was responsible for 9/11. Now if I were to tell them that even the Bush administration has announced that Saddam was not responsible for 9/11, under this bill, if passed, would students have the right to sue me because I clarified fact from fiction? Do I now become a Big Bad Liberal Dictator for challenging misinformation?

In today's FOX-TV-anything-goes-media, lies are facts. So it makes it exceedingly frustrating for teachers to question media-repeated lies, distortions and misinformation.

Philosophers have a long tradition of questioning conventional norms and popular beliefs. Socrates was accused by the mob for being unpatriotic, because he didn't believe war with Sparta and the poorly planned Sicilian invasion were good ideas. As it turned out, he was right, and they were wrong. Athens was demolished. He was promptly executed on trumped up charges, "Corrupting the Youth" and "Atheism" (gee, that sounds familiar!). In other words, Socrates was found guilty for being a critic of society, which made him an "enemy of the state."

The intended goal of this bill is to allow students the opportunity to express FOX-TV lies or misinformation, and their conservative views, in the classroom without teachers getting in the way. If the teachers challenge their Limbaugh or Hannity views, then the teacher will be sued, tarred & feathered and thrown into prison in the name of "Academic Freedom." Oh, and let's not forget the Hemlock.

[Moses]

Dutchess Community College Stands up for Academic Freedom

More on the subject from a different state (this thing is spreading like the Black Plague).

---

"Professional Staff Organization
Dutchess Community College
24 March 2005

In response to the “Academic Bill of Rights” (ABOR), currently under consideration by SUNY administration, the Professional Staff Organization (PSO) of Dutchess Community College (DCC) hereby ASSERTS:

that DCC has already stated its commitment to academic freedom in clear and unambiguous terms;

that the ABOR, which purports to promote intellectual diversity, actually threatens the tradition of academic freedom at DCC;

that the ABOR’s implication that knowledge is “unsettled” in most academic disciplines except for the sciences is dubious, at best;

that the ABOR distorts the principle of academic freedom by erroneously extending all of its protections to students;

that DCC students are already protected from racial, religious, and sex discrimination under applicable federal and state law;

that in addition to these legal safeguards, DCC students enjoy other rights and privileges pursuant to the policies of the College, including a grade appeal procedure;

that by setting narrow limitations on what teachers may consider when grading student work, the ABOR makes it harder for teachers to maintain academic standards;

that the vagueness of ABOR’s language appears to invite the imposition of outside political pressures on teachers;

that the ABOR would subject many of the College’s activities—including the selection of public speakers, formation of curricula, and hiring and promotion of employees—to external, non-academic standards;

that the intent of the ABOR appears to be to expose faculty and staff to civil action from those who claim to be victims of discrimination because of their “political beliefs”; and finally,

that the combined threat of lawsuits and external political pressure will have a chilling effect on the presentation of controversial topics in DCC classrooms.

Therefore, it is RESOLVED:
that the PSO rejects the proposed “Academic Bill of Rights” and urges SUNY to do the same; and

that the PSO remains unwaveringly committed to the principle of academic freedom, as defined in its public documents. "




posted by Juan @ 3/29/2005 06:10:00 AM   
www.juancole.com/2005/03/dutchess-community-college-stands-up.html