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rw, maybe you're right about the Hutch News being the worst. Check out this editorial from June 1. It's about Professor Dailey at KU.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius once believed in academic freedom. But no longer.

A month of independence was enough.

Sen. Susan Wagle, a conservative freshman, tried to shut down a human sexuality course at the University of Kansas by attaching a provision to the 2004 appropriations bill. Wagle accused instructor Dennis Dailey of showing obscene movies, sexually harassing students and participating in porn nights at KU fraternities.

Senators didn't wait to learn the truth. They sided with Wagle, agreeing to strip state funding from any public university department that purchased or showed obscene videos in undergraduate sexuality courses.

The House concurred, sending the appropriations bill to Sebelius. She used a line-item veto to eliminate the Wagle proviso.

She delivered this April 21 veto message: "In a democracy, academic freedom in higher education is essential."

A month later she took it all back.

Undaunted, (Wagle) returned with another provision--this time requiring state universities to adopt policies on sexual harassment, the use of explicit materials and the discussion of pedophilia in sexuality classes.

Senate leadership, trying to get rid of Wagle, included the stipulation as part of their final state budget. Sebelius signed it May 23.

When she did, everything she'd earlier said about academic freedom became meaningless.

Gov. Bill Graves used his line-item veto to stake out what he would and would not accept from the Legislature.

Not Sebelius. If a lawmaker becomes persistent, this governor quits.

No idea is worth defending. Not even academic freedom.

Undaunted, (Wagle) returned with another provision--this time requiring state universities to adopt policies on sexual harassment, the use of explicit materials and the discussion of pedophilia in sexuality classes.

That's just extreme. We can't have that. /sarcasm. Hey, I got to be proud of Sebelius for a few minutes. Good for her.

The Wichita Eagle thinks the whole thing was embarassing. Embarassing? I could go with that if I wasn't pretty sure they were embarassed for all the wrong reasons. Anyway, if for no other reason than politics, Sebelius did the right thing. Academic freedom doesn't mean the taxpayer is required to pay for everything.