 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
February 10, 2005
|
|||||
|
|
|
|||
|
February 10, 2005 |
|||||
 |
|
EDITORIAL Commie professors take notice Beware, pinko longhaired lefty college professors. For too long you’ve been brainwashing Ohio’s impressionable young minds with your liberal propaganda. Some Republican state lawmakers have had enough, however, and they’re going to bring sensibility and fairness to university campuses across the state. The first order of business at the statehouse is to restrain those so-called educators of higher learning. Four Republican senators have introduced legislation establishing an “academic bill of rights for higher education” that would limit what faculty could say in the classroom. The measure, Senate Bill 24, is a mind-boggling attempt to restrict academic freedom, not enhance it, as its backers contend. It’s also a great ploy for the lawmakers to seize headlines, puff up their conservative base and infuriate liberals. Here’s Exhibit A: the main backer of the bill, Senator Larry Mumper of Marion, was quoted in the Columbus Dispatch as saying that “many professors undermine the values of their students because ‘80 percent or so of them are Democrats, liberals or socialists or card-carrying Communists who attempt to indoctrinate students.” It’s hard to know if Senator Mumper is seriously concerned about all those supposed Commies and liberals running around our college campuses, or if he is a brilliant political strategist — because he is certainly receiving a lot of attention right now. Maybe it’s hubris caused by too many years of firm Republican control in Columbus. Much of the bill actually is based on classic American traditions that few people would oppose. For instance, SB 24 states that administrators, student government groups and various institutional policies shall not infringe upon freedom of speech and assembly and freedom of “conscience of students and student organization.” But such high-minded idealism quickly comes to a halt when one reads the flawed meat of SB 24. The part of the bill that should be of concern to Ohioans, regardless of political affiliation, is a vaguely worded prohibition on faculty at public and private colleges from “persistently introducing controversial matter into the classroom” that is not related to their subject of study and that “serves no legitimate pedagogical purpose.” If all this sounds familiar, that’s because it is. These efforts are similar to those of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, who made life miserable for real and suspected Communists in the 1950s. Such efforts to clean up higher education have also hit close to home. During the McCarthy era, Antioch College was targeted for its radical liberalism, accused of being a haven for subversives, Commies and Commie sympathizers. Back then, McCarthyites were paranoid about Communists infiltrating the American education system and turning students Commie red. How times have changed. Today Republicans are trying to impose their will on the education system and turn students Republican red. Whether it’s through legislation like SB 24 or mandated testing in public schools, Republican state lawmakers are bending and restricting classroom instruction —- all in the name of reform. SB 24 might go nowhere in the Ohio General Assembly, but it is another example of politicians allowing themselves to become drunk with power. Education should be about introducing students to new ideas and cultures, confronting controversies, dissecting societal trends, exposing myths, uncovering truths. Senate Bill 24 does none of these things. But it could put lefty professors on notice to update their resumes.
|
|
