I’ve covered this issue before, but here’s more evidence that the current efforts to regulate what professors can say and teach is unfortunately gaining momemtum: The San Diego Union Tribune reports that the California State Legislature has just barely rejected the so-called “Students Bill of Rights” which would have prohibited faculty from engaging in any form of ideological “indoctrination” toward their students.

As is always the case, there is no exact definition on what constitutes “indoctrination.” Instead, as the American Association of University Professors and others argue, such legislation is (1) so vague that it can conceivably expose professors to a whole range of accusations and charges from students, and (2) completely unecessary since virtually all colleges have thorough grievance procedures already in place for students to complain about a professor. As the article elaborates,

What [Republican Sen. Bill] Morrow’s proposal and similar ones nationwide don’t spell out is who decides what is ideologically unacceptable, and what happens to those professors who cross the new politically drawn lines. . .

“There is a reason why you have conservative action here, because most professors are liberals,” Morrow said. “Because you have inadequate rules to protect students, you have liberal professors harassing and haranguing them. If the roles were reversed, and I wish they were, but that doesn’t have anything to do with the bill, you would have the Legislature trying to do something about it. The professors work for us.”

I hope you can see just how ideologically biased Morrow’s comments above are. Apparently he assumes that liberal professors “harassing and haranguing” students are the norm on college campuses. Second, he believes that “professor work for us.” Wrong Bill, professor there work for the state of California, not for you and your extremist conservative agenda.

Up to this point, many of us in the academic world (i.e. the “ivory tower") have felt a sense of insulation from the right wing conservative movement that is sweeping across this country. Sadly, it appears that this sense of autonomy is over.