GOP Trying To Kill Academic Freedom On Campus

[CShine]

For more than 100 years, Colorado's colleges have churned out voters of all stripes, including lots of Republicans. Yet, GOP lawmakers suddenly want to legislate how and what professors teach. They're doing it under the guise of protecting the academic freedom of students, but it sounds more like they're afraid of what students may learn or hear on campus. It's the antithesis of academic freedom. And, ironically, in their rush to stifle left-leaning professors, Republican lawmakers come off looking like the politically correct thought police - a swipe they usually take at others.

A bill to be introduced today by Rep. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield, hopes to keep classrooms free of instructors who introduce controversial topics not related to the content of their courses. It also would give students the right to be graded on "reasoned answers and appropriate knowledge of the subjects" rather than political beliefs.

Certainly students should expect to be graded on their work and not their views, but Republicans haven't shown there's enough of a problem in Colorado to merit passing a law.

If approved, the bill would be hard to enforce and defend. It would be another example of legislation pushed by Republicans solely because of politics that can't be upheld in court. And the state will waste thousands of dollars defending another bad bill.


http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~417~1918601,00.html