MEA-MFT stops attack on academic freedom
What did Representative Roger Koopman (R-Bozeman) hope
to accomplish with his House Bill 525 for “intellectual
diversity” in Montana's university system? Is it a
coincidence that similar bills are cropping up in states
across the nation, 26 and counting?
Fortunately, MEA-MFT teamed up with a broad coalition of
higher education students, professors, and others to kill
this dangerous bill. HB 525 died on the House
floor early in the 2007 Legislature,
on a vote of 43 to 57. This is a great victory.
Study? Then Rep. Koopman came back, very late in
the session, with HJ 55, a bill to allegedly "study
intellectual diversity" in the university system. This
is a strategy that was attempted in Pennsylvania after an
HB 525 clone died there.
We defeated HJ 55 too. Read about
the hearing on HJ 55.
Rep. Koopman’s original bill, HB 525, would
require an annual report on what’s being done by the
Montana university system to ensure “intellectual diversity.”
It would require hiring an ombudsman, one per institution,
to ensure “intellectual diversity.” He would require
a balanced variety of campus-wide panels and speakers, and
much more.
MEA-MFT member Curtis Smeby, MSU Northern faculty member
and a member of the AFT higher education program and policy
council, said, “Where is the evidence that there’s
a problem in the university system in the state of Montana?
There’s not a problem—it’s not a reality.
We need to say ‘bunk!’”
National movement
Smeby went on to say that Koopman’s “Universities
are a market place of ideas,” Smeby said. “This
is a real threat to academic freedom.”
MEA-MFT, through our national affiliates, AFT and NEA,
are part of a coalition, Free
Exchange on Campus, formed to protect the free exchange
of ideas on campus.
The group says higher education faculty and professional
staff must be able to exercise independent academic judgment
in the conduct of their teaching and research. Society needs
“safe havens,” places where students and scholars
can challenge the conventional wisdom of any fiebill
is part of a national movement to wedge politics into the
classroom under the euphemism “Academic Bill of Rights”
(ABOR).ld—art, science, politics, or whatever.
This is not a threat to society; it strengthens society.
It puts ideas to the test and teaches students to think
and defend their ideas.
MEA-MFT believes Koopman’s proposal was an invitation
to tie up institutions of higher education in an endless
round of public hearings and litigation. Non-academics would
decide whether enough balance was achieved in the reading
list of a particular course, or whether certain speakers
were engaged based on their politics.
Passage of such legislation could give legislators license
to obtain records, hold hearings, and suggest to college
faculty and administrators that they are being watched and
their actions put in the worst possible light.
Montana’s Board of Regents was created to make sure
faculty members are not subject to political pressures in
the performance of their duties. Koopman’s proposal
would create unnecessary and inappropriate interference
to our academic institutions and impose an ideological litmus
test on hiring, curriculum, and teaching.
America’s system of higher education is based on a
rich tradition of academic freedom, peer evaluation, and
tenure, as well as the promotion of diverse ideas and voices,
and is widely seen as the most successful such system in
the world.
“Government officials should be focused on upholding
and increasing support for these important institutions
and traditions rather than tearing them down,” said
MEA-MFT President Eric Feaver.
We can expect to see this bad idea again. Read
more about the Academic Bill of Rights.
