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This article by David Horowitz and the two following (Sarah Habel's "Students for Academic Freedom: A New Campus Movement" and Stanley Fish's "Voice of the Opposition") all appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education. They represent the ongoing debate over Horowitz's Academic Bill of Rights and fight for intellectual freedom in our institutions of higher learning - The Editors. *I am the author of the Academic Bill of Rights, which many student governments, colleges and universities, education commissions, and legislatures are considering adopting. Already, the U.S. House of Representatives has introduced a version as legislation, and the Senate should soon...

Universities Need an Academic Bill of RightsBy Rocky Mountain NewsRocky Mountain News | February 4, 2004 The debate over lawmaker plans to sponsor a so-called Academic Bill of Rights has been raging for four months - ever since the Rocky Mountain News broke the story in September - but the focus sharpened last week with the introduction of actual legislation. House Bill 1315 turns out to be far from the fearsome mandate for political balance in the classroom that critics predicted and more of a commendable attempt to shield students from viewpoint discrimination. We support those provisions in the bill...

<p>BOULDER, Colo. -- A few years ago, Jeff O'Holleran said he began to realize that he was different from the other boys he knew.</p> <p>"I started having certain thoughts," said Mr. O'Holleran, 19, a student at the University of Colorado (CU). "I would go out into my mom's car, turn it on auxiliary and listen to Rush Limbaugh."</p>

My daughter has recently started college in Colorado and called me up in arms about a bill before the Colorado Senate sponsored by Senate President John Andrews (although the Colorado government website says Mitchell is the sponsor). The information she had called it Academic Freedom draft bill: Academic Bill of Rights and Higher Education. Upon listening to what she read to me, my impression is that she got the "skewed" version and interpreted it to mean that contoversial topics couldn't be discussed in class and she relayed that students are very upset about it. Based on the "version" she read...

<p>A well-known conservative is reaching out to state lawmakers to beat back what he claims is rampant political bias against students and faculty who do not agree with a pervasive liberal orthodoxy in state schools across the country.</p> <p>As a result, leaders in several states are reportedly working on anti-bias legislation, including Colorado state Sen. John Andrews (search). Andrews told Foxnews.com that lawmakers in the state General Assembly plan to introduce a bill in coming weeks that would require state college and university officials to educate students and faculty better about their rights against political and ideological bias by other professors and administrators.</p>

<p>DENVER — Kirk Hamm considers himself a liberal, but he's been stunned by what he sees as pervasive discrimination against conservative students and faculty at the University of Colorado at Boulder.</p> <p>During his six years on campus, Mr. Hamm says he's watched professors spend class time blasting Republicans. He's seen student groups denied funding to bring conservative speakers to campus. Faculty members have told him privately that hiring a conservative professor would be "next to impossible."</p>

A professor requires that students write - and send - antiwar letters to President Bush to receive full class credit. A graduate student instructor warns, in the description for his course on Palestinian resistance, that "conservative thinkers are encouraged to seek other sections." A criminology professor assigns a paper on "Why George Bush Is a War Criminal," and fails a paper submitted instead on "Why Saddam Hussein Is a War Criminal." These are just a sampling of recent anecdotes that critics cite when they want to show that campus politics not only tilt to the left, but sometimes do so...

The conspiracy theories of American politics have become so outlandish that rooms full of politicians are beginning to look frighteningly similar to psychiatric wards housing schizophrenics. According to the least or most medicated public figure of the day, around every corner with a flickering street light stands a unified front of thought, just waiting to invade the sanctity of the simple man's ideology. Of course these mysterious forces bent on brainwashing the masses are always the "other guys." The latest contributor to the painfully dumbed-down political dialogue of our nation is Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Savannah) who introduced legislation called "The...

The class started off innocuously enough. We were in our fifth week of an undergraduate honors seminar, reading Ishmael Reed's 1972 novel, Mumbo Jumbo, and I was starting to explain how the novel is built on a series of deliberate anachronisms, on the way to asking what these tropes from the 1960s were doing in a novel ostensibly set during the Harlem Renaissance. I began in an obvious (though always fun) place, with Abdul Hamid's encounter with PaPa LaBas at a rent party, where Abdul delivers a tirade presaging the rise of the Nation of Islam and protesting U.S. draft...

18 Republicans say they sponsor Academic Bill of Rights to prevent "indoctrination." The second-largest Sunday night crowd of the semester went to the Hoff Theater to see the Student Entertainment Events-sponsored showing of Bowling for Columbine Nov. 23. The crowd was unusually large because some teachers encouraged students to see the movie, a SEE official said. In the documentary-style film, writer and director Michael Moore explores American gun culture while providing his own personal commentary, alternating between tones of levity and poignancy. Under an "Academic Bill of Rights" sponsored by 18 Republican congressmen, the teachers who told their students to...

DENVER -- Worried that left-wing professors are using college classrooms to bully those who don't toe the liberal line, a Colorado politician says it might be time to pass a law protecting students who hold more conservative or religious views. Republican state senate president John Andrews recently sent a letter to Colorado's 29 public colleges and universities, asking them to explain how they handle cases of ideological discrimination and how they promote diverse points of view. Their answers are due by Monday. If he's unhappy with what he hears, Andrews vowed, he'll sponsor legislation to "ensure academic freedom." Exactly how...

U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., introduced a bill Oct. 30 that aims to change how universities define diversity. House Concurrent Resolution 318, also informally called the Academic Bill of Rights, would advocate that all students' opinions should be equally represented in university classrooms, including conservative viewpoints. "It is a voluntary resolution to get campuses to look themselves in the eye and do a self-evaluation," he said. "We hope universities will come to a consensus to what their definition of diversity is." The resolution will define diversity not only as race and ethnicity, but also ideology, Kingston said. Faculty members should...

Utah State Students Adopt the Academic Bill of RightsBy Gabriel WhiteFrontPageMagazine.com | November 14, 2003 The Associated Students of Utah State University Executive Council voted 9 to 5 with one abstention to approve a resolution entitled “The Academic Bill of Rights.”  According to Gabriel White, Senator for the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences and the sponsor of the legislation, “Academic freedom is something that we have always valued here at Utah State University.”  “It is important that we as students stand up to the bias on campus.”  The resolution has as its goal to support intellectual diversity on...

Colorado Moves Closer To Academic Bill of Rights By Julia C. MartinezDenverPost.com | November 14, 2003 State Sen. John Andrews, hoping for more conservative teachings on college campuses, has begun a formal probe into whether Colorado's 29 colleges and universities have policies to protect academic freedom. In a letter to the presidents of each institution, Andrews asked for responses by Dec. 1 to four questions, including what steps are being taken to promote intellectual diversity in the classroom and in the recruitment of faculty.Andrews, R-Centennial and president of the state Senate, released the letter to reporters Wednesday.Andrews said during the...

If anyone doubts the need for an Academic Bill of Rights contact Professor Jay Bergman of Central Connecticut State University (CCSU). Recently, Bergman sent a letter, signed by over twenty people, to the chairman of the university’s board of trustees, noting the lack of intellectual diversity there. He cited several examples. One was a seminar about slavery reparations. According to Bergman it was an indoctrination session. "Not one of the presenters expressed the reasonable opinion, which students attending the seminar were entitled to hear, that reparations are a bad idea," Bergman wrote. In addition to the reparations seminar, Bergman cited...

WASHINGTON -- As NewsMax predicted last summer, high-ranking members of Congress are backing a bill to “ensure fairness in higher education and protect college students from one-sided liberal propaganda.” The “Academic Bill of Rights” is backed by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Tex., who says too many professors use classrooms “as their own personal soapboxes.” In a statement e-mailed to NewsMax.com, DeLay said the measure “seeks to create a neutral learning environment on college campuses by highlighting the hiring practices that hamper intellectual diversity.” Quality education, the majority leader believes, “should not take a back seat to the political agendas...

Cornell Needs the Academic Bill of RightsBy Erica TemelCornell Daily Sun | October 31, 2003 Congressman Jack Kingston, R-GA, announced last Tuesday that he will be introducing a resolution to Congress that challenges universities to voluntarily adopt what he calls ideologically-neutral hiring processes and academic policies. Kingston's resolution, called the Academic Bill of Rights, is based on conservative scholar David Horowitz's bill of the same name and addresses an issue that is currently being debated on the Cornell campus. Armed with the slogan "you can't get a good education if they're only telling you half the story," supporters of the...

Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - Three Republican senators Wednesday joined a growing contingent of lawmakers who are concerned that America's college campuses lack the intellectual diversity necessary to provide students with a balanced education. It's the second time in a week that members of Congress have confronted the issue. In both cases, conservatives have complained that liberals dominate college campuses, shutting out other viewpoints while also abandoning traditional areas of study. Last week, more than a dozen House members introduced the "Academic Bill of Rights." The non-binding resolution includes recommendations encouraging diversity in hiring, curricula and reading lists. The resolution also...

ITHACA--Congressman Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) announced last Tuesday that he will be introducing a resolution to Congress that challenges universities to voluntarily adopt what he calls ideologically-neutral hiring processes and academic policies. Kingston's resolution, called the Academic Bill of Rights, is based on conservative scholar David Horowitz's bill of the same name and addresses an issue that is currently being debated on the Cornell campus. Armed with the slogan "you can't get a good education if they're only telling you half the story," supporters of the ABR say that the legislation is necessary to protect what Kingston called a student's right...

<p>A group of House Republicans is calling on national colleges and universities to adopt an "academic bill of rights" to ensure "intellectual independence."</p> <p>Students have a right to "get an education rather than an indoctrination," said Rep. Jack Kingston, Georgia Republican, who introduced the bill this week with more than a dozen Republican co-sponsors.</p>