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A legislative approach
Just over a year ago, ACTA issued its report Intellectual Diversity: Time for Action. As the title suggests, that report called upon the higher education community--trustees in particular--to take some concrete action in response to the clear national problem of a lack of intellectual diversity. And this was not to be just any action--the report suggested several possible responses that were consistent with academic freedom and earned the plaudits of trustees nationwide.
Some institutions have responded to this call for action. For example, the South Dakota Board of Regents now requires all public university professors to include an "Academic Freedom Statement" on their course syllabi. It reminds students that their "academic performance may be evaluated solely on an academic basis, not on opinions or conduct in matters unrelated to academic standards." It also tells students that they "should be free to take reasoned exception to the data or views offered in any course of study and to reserve judgment about matters of opinion" and names the administrator who is to help them if their rights are denied.
However, many institutions have not taken any action on their own, notable examples being the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of New Hampshire, who have been asked to do so in the wake of stories featuring faculty members who have included 9/11 conspiracy theories in their classroom teaching.
To address this problem, legislation based on the principles of Intellectual Diversity: Time for Action has been introduced in two states--Missouri and Virginia. As ACTA's press releases on the bills note, they are consistent not just with the principles in our report, but also with measures adopted in Pennsylvania that have been endorsed by members of both the academic and legal communities:
Provisions of the bills are similar to recommendations adopted by a bipartisan committee of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives late last year, following testimony by ACTA. That committee recommended that the state's public campuses take a number of steps similar to those in ACTA's 2005 report Intellectual Diversity: Time for Action. The institutions are required to report to the legislature on actions taken to encourage a mix of ideas on campus by November 1, 2008.Faculty members and civil libertarians supported the action in Pennsylvania. Penn State professor Michael Berube, author of What's Liberal About the Liberal Arts?, told the media, "I have no quarrel with the committee's recommendations." And "Free Exchange on Campus"—a consortium of the American Association of University Professors, the ACLU, the American Federation of Teachers, and others—greeted the report with the comment, "Well done to all."
A similar bill was introduced in South Dakota last year, providing the catalyst for the Regents' actions there.
Clearly, legislatures want accountability but in a way that is sensitive to academic freedom and institutional autonomy. By asking boards of trustees and their institutions to report on how they ensure the free exchange of ideas, these legislators have got it right. Stay tuned for future developments.
Posted by cmitchell at January 23, 2007 06:08 PM
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