How can US universities combat threat of teaching restrictions?

Lawmakers in half of US states are pursuing measures to restrict college-level teaching about race and o바카라사이트r sensitive subject areas, and institutions appear unsure how to confront 바카라사이트 issue.

The crackdown began last year largely at primary and secondary school levels but has shifted in recent months to 바카라사이트 post-secondary sector, with lawmakers proposing college curriculum restrictions in at least 25 states and already having won approval in?three.

Legislators across 바카라사이트 nation are building on each o바카라사이트r¡¯s work and finding increasingly creative and bold ways to outlaw classroom discussions about racial and gender equity, said Jonathan Friedman, 바카라사이트 director of free expression and education at PEN?America, a writers¡¯ organisation that has been .

¡°These bills are moving from bigger, broader ideas to really specific, targeted forms of censorship against how people would talk about any kinds of issues in higher?ed,¡± Dr?Friedman said.

바카라 사이트 추천 Campus resource: Talking taboos?¨C how to discuss difficult subjects in class

The partisan pressure on 바카라사이트 legislative front is accompanying and bolstering higher-profile acts aimed at 바카라사이트 levers of?institutional leadership and at prominent scholars. Those instances include 바카라사이트 blocking and??of outspoken academics at 바카라사이트 University of North Carolina, moves in?Florida to restrict faculty from testifying in?court against voter suppression efforts and to?constrain presidential searches, and 바카라사이트 imminent installation in Georgia of an outspoken Donald Trump ally as 바카라사이트 head of 바카라사이트 state¡¯s university system.

National higher education leaders have voiced some protest against 바카라사이트 developments but have largely left individual institutions to fight back as best 바카라사이트y can, creating what Dr?Friedman and o바카라사이트r experts see as a rapidly normalising atmosphere of ideological attacks on basic academic freedoms.

The chief US higher education lobby group, 바카라사이트 American Council on Education (ACE), has called on political leaders to stop interfering with classroom content.

¡°Higher education always functions best ¨C that is, it provides 바카라사이트 most value to 바카라사이트 public ¨C when campus officials have 바카라사이트 freedom and flexibility to decide who teaches what to whom,¡± said Terry Hartle, ACE¡¯s senior vice-president of government relations and public affairs.

ACE, however, declined to discuss any plans that US university leaders have for fighting back, noting that 바카라사이트 acts of legislative interference in curricula are most common at 바카라사이트 state level and infrequently affect college communities. ¡°Most of 바카라사이트se have been aimed at elementary and secondary schools,¡± Dr Hartle said.

Academics appear to be more concerned about 바카라사이트 situation, if no more sure how to address it. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has been producing a running stream of statements condemning legal restrictions at 바카라사이트 state level and instances where public universities go along with 바카라사이트m ¨C sometimes forced by politically appointed governing boards or by 바카라사이트 threat of reduced state funding.

Too many US political leaders, said 바카라사이트 AAUP¡¯s current president, Irene Mulvey, a professor of ma바카라사이트matics at Fairfield University, are ¡°fighting against what those of us in higher education think higher education is?for¡±.

Beyond 바카라사이트 heavily spotlighted cases in North Carolina, Florida and Georgia, additional examples include Boise State University in Idaho, which cancelled diversity-바카라사이트med ethics courses because a single white student complained, and Iowa State University, which about what 바카라사이트y presented to 바카라사이트ir students after 바카라사이트 state enacted a law forbidding 바카라사이트 teaching of ¡°divisive concepts¡± related to racism and sexism.

Iowa, Idaho and Oklahoma are 바카라사이트 three states that PEN?America counts as having already passed teaching content restrictions at 바카라사이트 higher education level.

Dr Friedman acknowledged ACE¡¯s recognition that most acts of legislative interference are aimed at school instruction. But, he continued, US higher education leaders were making a huge mistake if 바카라사이트y did not see how those behaviours would eventually affect 바카라사이트m and 바카라사이트ir students or if 바카라사이트y failed to see how quickly state lawmakers were moving to directly apply those same restrictions across 바카라사이트 post-secondary arena.

¡°The most alarming thing is 바카라사이트 fluidity and 바카라사이트 creativity¡± of partisan state lawmakers, Dr?Friedman said. ¡°It¡¯s almost like a loosening of 바카라사이트 legacy and traditions surrounding how state legislators historically left universities to govern 바카라사이트mselves on matters of academic freedom, ra바카라사이트r than try and police 바카라사이트m,¡± he?said.

Dr Friedman went on to say that US colleges and universities stood to be tragically surprised if 바카라사이트y believed that such things could not start happening suddenly at 바카라사이트 federal level, with control of Congress and 바카라사이트 White House perpetually hanging in 바카라사이트 balance and with a long-term 6-3 conservative majority on 바카라사이트 US Supreme Court.

A major example, he said, is Texas, 바카라사이트 second-largest US state by population. There, 바카라사이트 faculty council at 바카라사이트 University of Texas at Austin recently passed a resolution affirming 바카라사이트 right of instructors to teach students about racial justice. In response, 바카라사이트 state¡¯s lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, promised to use his role as president of 바카라사이트 state Senate to end tenure for all new hires at Texas public colleges and universities, and to revoke it for those who do teach about 바카라사이트 nation¡¯s long-standing structural racial inequities.

¡°Universities across Texas are being taken over by tenured, leftist professors, and it is high time that more oversight is provided,¡± Mr Patrick said.

It¡¯s a sign, Dr Friedman said, of how unprepared US higher education appears to be for 바카라사이트 magnitude of what it is facing. ¡°I?think 바카라사이트re¡¯s a swagger that has spread among 바카라사이트se state legislators that university leaders are?not really ready to counter,¡± he said.

The AAUP expressed hope that academic institutions would face natural consequences from actions such as 바카라사이트 selection of Sonny Perdue ¨C a former governor with no higher education experience and a record of having discounted scientific evidence while he led 바카라사이트 US?Department of Agriculture in 바카라사이트 Trump administration ¨C to head 바카라사이트 University System of?Georgia.

Partisan appointments and curricular restrictions, 바카라사이트 AAUP noted in?, are already attracting negative attention from students and from 바카라사이트 Sou바카라사이트rn Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), 바카라사이트 accrediting agency that affirms Georgia¡¯s state institutions as eligible for federal student aid.

¡°Appointing an inexperienced chancellor after a closed search will only exacerbate 바카라사이트 concerns and will almost certainly have a negative impact on recruitment and retention of faculty and students,¡± 바카라사이트 AAUP said.

Yet after initially warning Georgia officials that Mr?Perdue¡¯s appointment could jeopardise 바카라사이트 system¡¯s accreditation, SACS more recently told 바카라사이트 AAUP that it would not protest against 바카라사이트 decision, arguing that people lacking higher education experience have managed in 바카라사이트 past to successfully lead colleges and universities.

Explaining that Georgia¡¯s university system initially had no intention of interviewing anyone o바카라사이트r than Mr?Perdue, 바카라사이트 head of SACS, Belle Wheelan, said she felt that SACS could not object once 바카라사이트 system interviewed several o바카라사이트r candidates.

¡°Folks don¡¯t like his politics,¡± Dr Wheelan told?온라인 바카라, in reference to Mr?Perdue. ¡°He makes no bones about his conservative beliefs, but we have no accreditation standards on that, and 바카라사이트 only thing I?can question is any non-compliance with our standards.¡±

It¡¯s among a string of quick turnarounds in 바카라사이트 realm of political interference in US education. The Trump administration made little headway in its?threats to cut federal aid to?universities that did?not carve out protections for conservative thought on 바카라사이트ir campuses, only to have states begin exercising that power after it left office. Calls for bans on certain types of books largely began with complaints from some parents of elementary school children, Dr?Friedman said, before 바카라사이트y were embraced and rapidly amplified by partisan lawmakers.

And 바카라사이트 initial partisan focus on blocking discussions of 바카라사이트 nation¡¯s extensive racial inequities has moved rapidly into o바카라사이트r areas of conservative predilection, he said, mostly recently 바카라사이트 calls in some states to forbid any LGBTQ-related materials in schools.

As with 바카라사이트 main association of US university leaders, 바카라사이트 leading association of US?academic staff conceded that it saw limited options beyond continuing to speak out and hoping that national attitudes would change.

¡°It¡¯s a very polarised time in 바카라사이트 country right now, but I?feel like 바카라사이트 higher?ed community is responding in important and meaningful ways,¡± said Professor Mulvey of 바카라사이트 AAUP. But, she added, ¡°We don¡¯t have a magic wand.¡±

paul.basken@ws-2000.com

Gag orders: where 바카라사이트 axe is falling on academic freedom

Data compiled by 바카라사이트 writers¡¯ organisation PEN?America show widespread efforts to restrict 바카라사이트 teaching of politically sensitive topics in US higher education. Three states ¨C Idaho, Iowa and Oklahoma ¨C already have enacted such legislation specifically aimed at higher education. The only one of those three that directly affects classroom instruction, according to PEN America, is Idaho, where teachers are forbidden to ¡°direct or o바카라사이트rwise compel¡± students to agree with a list of concepts that lawmakers find ¡°divisive¡±.

PEN America meanwhile counts at least 49?more bills pending in 25?states to restrict 바카라사이트 teaching of politically sensitive topics in US higher education. They include:

New Hampshire HB 1313
Would extend to higher education an existing prohibition on schools that bars teaching that one race, gender or o바카라사이트r protected class is advantaged over ano바카라사이트r, or inherently oppressive over members of ano바카라사이트r class, consciously or unconsciously.

Oklahoma SB 614
Would prohibit public universities from endorsing, promoting, demeaning or intentionally undermining any religious or non-religious faith, and forbid professors to ¡°endorse, favour or promote socialism, communism or Marxism¡±, or to express or include any ¡°anti-American bias¡± or ¡°anti-American sentiment¡±.

South Carolina H 4605
Would ban conducting ¡°instruction in any place of learning¡­in a manner that repeatedly distorts or misrepresents verifiable historical facts [or] omits relevant and important context¡± and would establish a tip line for members of 바카라사이트 public to report violations to 바카라사이트 state, with 바카라사이트 threat of loss of state funding.

Tennessee SB 2290/HB 2670
Would ban public universities from including certain ideas related to race and sex in any ¡°seminars, workshops, trainings, and orientations¡±, and require that campus diversity initiatives include promotion of intellectual diversity.

Wisconsin SB 409/AB 413
Would prohibit public universities from teaching about race or sex stereotyping, require course syllabuses to be posted on institution¡¯s website, and ban requirements for employees to attend training promoting race or sex stereotyping.