2008 Woodie Awards
Government violates college classroom space with bill
Issue date: 3/29/07 Section: Opinion & Editorial
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A bill was recently introduced to the Missouri House that calls into question the government's right to create ideologically charged legislation to promote intellectual diversity in college classrooms.
The Emily Booker Intellectual Diversity Bill was introduced to the Missouri House by Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield. This bill would require public universities in Missouri (which does not include Webster) to report yearly to the Missouri government about methods they are implementing to promote intellectual diversity on campuses.
This bill was named after a student of Missouri State University in Springfield who was told she would not graduate if she didn't sign a petition supporting gay couples as foster parents, but such incidents should be handled on a case-by-case basis in the courts as this one was.
This bill is an extreme response that conservative legislators have used to justify a witch-hunt for liberal professors. Seventy-two percent of teachers at American universities are liberal, and 13 percent are conservative, based on statistics from a study released last week by college professors from Smith College and the University of Toronto. These statistics were based on the North American Academic Study Survey from 1999, the most recent polling available for the study.
Intellectual diversity is a worthy goal, but the Missouri legislature should not try to arbitrarily impose it. There are rarely only two sides to anything. There are as many differing opinions as there are college professors in Missouri, and most people cannot be put into simple categories. Trying to determine whether a university has enough liberal or conservative professors, speakers, programs and opinions is an impossible task.
The bill also suggests universities "develop hiring, tenure and promotion policies that protect individuals against viewpoint discrimination and track any reported grievances in that regard." The Missouri legislature should not be able to come in and tell universities who is qualified to teach classes. Why does a university have a president and administrators if the Missouri legislature is going to create ideologically charged legislation that overrules their decisions because of political opinions of faculty members?
The issues addressed in this bill are administrative concerns that should be left to universities to decide. The legislature should not take it upon itself to enter college classrooms by deciding the ideology that can be displayed.
Where does this stop? Will a university eventually have to submit lesson plans to the government? Will the state begin to punish schools that legislators think do not have enough diversity on their campuses? Who decides what enough diversity is when it comes to something as abstract as opinions?
The essential question behind this bill is: How much power does the Missouri legislature have to come into the college classroom and dictate the contents of the intellectual space? The answer should be none. Only the university should have the right to choose who should work at the school and what ideas should be promoted on a campus.
The Emily Booker Intellectual Diversity Bill was introduced to the Missouri House by Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield. This bill would require public universities in Missouri (which does not include Webster) to report yearly to the Missouri government about methods they are implementing to promote intellectual diversity on campuses.
This bill was named after a student of Missouri State University in Springfield who was told she would not graduate if she didn't sign a petition supporting gay couples as foster parents, but such incidents should be handled on a case-by-case basis in the courts as this one was.
This bill is an extreme response that conservative legislators have used to justify a witch-hunt for liberal professors. Seventy-two percent of teachers at American universities are liberal, and 13 percent are conservative, based on statistics from a study released last week by college professors from Smith College and the University of Toronto. These statistics were based on the North American Academic Study Survey from 1999, the most recent polling available for the study.
Intellectual diversity is a worthy goal, but the Missouri legislature should not try to arbitrarily impose it. There are rarely only two sides to anything. There are as many differing opinions as there are college professors in Missouri, and most people cannot be put into simple categories. Trying to determine whether a university has enough liberal or conservative professors, speakers, programs and opinions is an impossible task.
The bill also suggests universities "develop hiring, tenure and promotion policies that protect individuals against viewpoint discrimination and track any reported grievances in that regard." The Missouri legislature should not be able to come in and tell universities who is qualified to teach classes. Why does a university have a president and administrators if the Missouri legislature is going to create ideologically charged legislation that overrules their decisions because of political opinions of faculty members?
The issues addressed in this bill are administrative concerns that should be left to universities to decide. The legislature should not take it upon itself to enter college classrooms by deciding the ideology that can be displayed.
Where does this stop? Will a university eventually have to submit lesson plans to the government? Will the state begin to punish schools that legislators think do not have enough diversity on their campuses? Who decides what enough diversity is when it comes to something as abstract as opinions?
The essential question behind this bill is: How much power does the Missouri legislature have to come into the college classroom and dictate the contents of the intellectual space? The answer should be none. Only the university should have the right to choose who should work at the school and what ideas should be promoted on a campus.
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