[In] Arizona, a Senate committee on Thursday approved a bill that has
infuriated faculty and student leaders. The bill, whose chief sponsor
is the Republican majority leader in the Senate, would ban professors
at public colleges and universities, while working, from:
* Endorsing, supporting or opposing any candidate for local, state
or national office.
* Endorsing, supporting or opposing any pending legislation,
regulation or rule under consideration by local, state or federal
agencies.
* Endorsing, supporting or opposing any litigation in any court.
*Advocating "one side of a social, political, or cultural issue
that is a matter of partisan controversy."
* Hindering military recruiting on campus or endorsing the
activities of those who do.
Under the legislation, the Arizona Board of Regents, which governs the
state's public universities, and the individual boards of community
colleges would be responsible for setting guidelines for the law and
for requiring all faculty members to participate in three hours of
training annually on their responsibilities under the law.
Punishments could come in two forms. The governing boards' guidelines
would need to develop procedures, including suspensions and
terminations in some cases, according to the bill. In addition, the
state attorney general and county prosecutors could sue violators, and
state courts could impose fines of up to $500. The legislation would
bar colleges or their insurance policies from paying the fines money
would need to be paid directly by the professors found guilty.
It is unclear whether the legislation has the backing to become law.
It was approved by the Senate Government Committee, on a 4-3 party
line vote, amid reports that the Education Committee wasn't prepared
to support the legislation. Given that the sponsor of the legislation,
Sen. Thayer Verschoor, is Republican majority leader, the legislation
is being taken as a real threat even by those who expect it to be
defeated at some point.
"This is a censorship bill. We are obviously very opposed," said Reyes
Medrano Sr., president-elect of the Maricopa Community College
District Faculty Association and a business professor at Paradise
Valley Community College.
"We can't see what this bill would accomplish," Medrano said. He added
that the group was stepping up lobbying efforts against the
legislation, and would consider court action if the bill becomes law.
"There is plenty to work with there," he said.
Serena Unrein, executive director of the Arizona Students'
Association, said that the bill would prevent faculty members from
discussing many things that belong in the classroom. "There are so
many examples an economics professor couldn't talk about the
viability of privatizing Social Security. Any time that there are
efforts to restrict what college students are able to learn in the
classroom, we should take it seriously."
The blog College Freedom has said the bill, if enacted, would be "the
worst legislative attack on academic freedom in the history of
American higher education." Even David Horowitz is opposed, saying
that the bill goes too far. He wrote in a statement that he has never
advocated legislative limits on what college faculty members may say
in class.
In an interview on Friday, Verschoor defended his bill and pledged to
push it. "In our institutions of higher education, students should be
learning how to think, not what to think," he said.
Verschoor said that there has been "a problem for quite a while" with
professors imposing politics on their students. He said that he hears
about this all the time and reads newspaper articles about it all the
time.
Asked for specifics of the professorial behavior his bill would ban,
he cited two examples from his own education at Arizona State
University, from which he graduated in 1993. One time, he said, a
classroom where his course met was next door to a classroom used by a
women's studies class, which he entered one day by accident. "I came
in and all of the male students were dressed like women, and the
purpose was supposedly to see how a woman feels. I don't know how
being in a dress and high heels would help with that. That was
peculiar," he said.
In another case, he said, his comments offended a professor's
political sensibilities. While Verschoor did not remember the
specifics of the political exchange or the class, he said that the
professor accused him of being "a political plant" and then said that
"plants are to be urinated on."
Verschoor said that his intentions were not partisan and said that he
had heard that some professors had criticized Sen. John Kerry in
classes, and that he was offended by that as well as comments made
against President Bush.
He also denied that the bill had anything to do with academic freedom.
"You can speak about any subject you want you just don't take a
position," he said.
Scott Jaschik
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