The Republican Party’s bill being considered by the
California Senate Education Committee is nothing more than another
brazen attempt on the part of the GOP to manipulate public opinion
and differing viewpoints in a university setting. Senate Bill 1335
would create an Academic Bill of Rights that universities would
have to adhere to.
Traditionally, conservatives are the first to decry government
involvement and regulation in social matters, such as education.
Why have they all of a sudden gone against the principles of their
own ideology? This bill is coming from the same political camp that
enabled the government to monitor the books we check out of a
library through the Patriot Act. So much for freedom.
As students and voters, we should not be misled by the
smoke-screen justification that we are being protected from the
unbalanced liberal views of our professors. Many university
professors take liberal political stances because they are aware
the obligations we have toward one another in society should not be
downplayed or ignored.
Individuals do not live in bubbles, and many people fail to
recognize our actions affect those around us. At the very least, we
are partially responsible for one another. The general trend has
been that the more education people receive, the more they become
aware of this fact. That is why so many professors take a liberal
stance on social and political issues.
We should also question the timing of this bill, which comes on
the heels of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposal to slash
funding for university outreach programs which target poor and
underrepresented communities ““ programs that most liberal
university professors favor.
If the GOP were truly interested in the quality of education at
public liberal arts institutions, it would stop worrying about what
students are thinking and focus more on how they are thinking.
A liberal or conservative bias in the faculties of these
universities would easily loose influence if legislation was passed
requiring all public liberal arts institutions to add a mandatory
logic and critical thinking component to general education
requirements.
Such classes teach people to not simply regurgitate what
teachers tell them, but to analyze arguments without looking at
whether those arguments are liberal or conservative, or brought
forward by a professor or a politician. Perhaps the real reason
such a course is not mandatory is because if students in
institutions were taught how to reason well, most of the
politicians in the California Legislature wouldn’t be able to
hold office.
Jordan is a third-year undeclared student.