In order to preserve academic freedom, the California state
senate must reject a Republican-backed bill designed to eliminate
perceived biases in higher education.
The bill, based largely on conservative activist David
Horowitz’s Academic Bill of Rights, would attempt to keep
faculty members from being hired or fired because of their
politics. This seems a noble goal, but the bill would also require
that faculty members not offer students only a single
viewpoint.
The contradiction is blaring. Forcing faculty to offer
“the other side” is a political restriction in itself
““ something bill supporters would claim to oppose.
Horowitz is right about one thing: University faculty are, on
the whole, very liberal. But releasing the thought police to make
universities more like the rest of society is not acceptable.
Universities were designed to be places where ideas could be
discussed and truths sought, free of partisan manipulation by the
outside world.
If that were to change, if government were to regulate ““
however subtly ““ professors’ lectures, higher education
would be impotent. The soul of the university would be lost.