Free Republic

Perhaps the most contentious issue surrounding the academic freedom movement is whether or not legislators should get involved with passing things like the Academic Bill of Rights. At the national Academic Freedom Conference held on April 6-7 in Washington, D.C. one panel of legislators, some who have been vilified publicly for their concerns, discussed measures taken within their own states. Former state Senator John Andrews of Colorado said that what many denounce as anecdotal evidence, legislators term “putting a human face on the problem.” “We were the first state to consider legislation,” said Sen. Andrews, explaining that a bill was...

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...