September/October 2007

WISCONSIN LEGISLATES THE
CURRICULUM
A few legislators in Wisconsin have decided that there’s more than one way to curb academic freedom.t State Rep. Stephen Nass, a Republican, was rebuffed  last year when he tried to get a University of Wisconsin-Madison lecturer fired for opinions he expressed on a radio program. This year, Nass and others are taking aim at departments whose politics have irked them. Nass has decided the 72-year-old, world-renowned UW extension “School for Workers” program is too liberal for his tastes, so he’s cut its funding. Since he heads up the Assembly’s Colleges and Universities Committee, he’s been able to get his way in the Assembly budget. That program and another that holds events for “progressive” thinkers have had their funding stripped. Wisconsin State Journal columnist Susan Lampert Smith sees method in that madness:

“If you follow the logic of killing off the School for Workers, you’d have to ask why taxpayers support schools of business, engineering, agriculture and education. Let the companies, the engineers, the farmers and the schools pay for them. Students who want to learn those disciplines can just pay the entire bill themselves.”

FREE EXCHANGE MIXES IT UP
To its collection of jousts and parries in the battle to protect the free exchange of ideas on campus, the blog of the Free Exchange on Campus coalition adds interviews with noted luminaries each Wednesday. They share their thoughts on the state of higher education and academic freedom. Hear from Rick Perlstein, author of “What’s the Matter with College?” and Stephen Aby, editor of the forthcoming collection, The Academic Bill of Rights Debate: A Handbook, academic tenure scholars Lawrence Poston and Joan Wallach Scott, and politics and culture commentators Kevin Mattson and Michael Bérubé.

TEMPLE LAWSUIT DISMISSED
U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell dismissed a former student’s lawsuit alleging that he was denied a master’s degree because of his political views. Christian DeJohn, a graduate student in history, took leave midprogram to serve in the military. After resuming his studies unsuccessfully, he sued Temple University because he felt his views on the Iraq War had caused the department to withhold his master’s degree. DeJohn brought his suit one month after telling his story to the Pennsylvania House Select Committee on Academic Freedom in Higher Education, citing his experience as an example of political bias running rampant in the state’s schools. The university and history faculty advisors countered that DeJohn’s work simply didn’t pass muster. After four hearings, the committee, like the judge, found DeJohn’s claims of bias to be unfounded.

THE ZOGBY POLL—SEASON  WITH SALT
We’re scratching our heads over just-released Zogby poll that shows 58 percent of poll respondents think that “political bias” in higher education is a “serious problem.”

Leaving aside the the notorious unreliability of internet polling as well as problems with the actual wording and context of the particular questions, it’s difficult to ascertain the legitimacy or reliability of the poll’s results. The Zogby poll doesn’t include any demographic data on educational attainment or whether respondents have children in college. 

Likewise, the phrasing of the questions leaves something to be desired. For example, the question on the quality of higher education reads, “Do you think the quality of a college education today compared to the quality of a college education 25 years ago is much better, somewhat better, somewhat worse, much worse, or is about the same?” How many people have had direct experiences with higher education that span 25 years, enabling them to make a comparison? 

The reality, as legislators have found, is that bias is not a systemic problem and that the vast majority of college educators carry out their teaching responsibilities in a highly competent and professional manner.

ACTA DÉJÀ VU
In April, when the American Council of Trustees and Alumni head Anne Neal was appointed to the federal advisory committee that authorizes accrediting agencies, many observers worried that her 2003 call for an end to the federal system of accrediting institutions made her appointment unsuitable.  Neal demurred. But lo and behold, in July ACTA struck again, releasing a policy paper entitled “Why Accreditation Doesn’t Work and What Policymakers Can Do About It.” “"If the Department of Education wonders why colleges and universities are skeptical about their motives with respect to accreditation, they need look no further than this report," said Terry Hartle, the American Council on Education’s government affairs chief to the Chronicle of Higher Education.