Following up on earlier posts about Republican criticisms that academics are too liberal and that conservative viewpoints are punished in the classroom, Inside Higher Education reports that 26 higher education organizations have issued a joint statement that tries to address conservative concerns and to stave off legislation that attempts to control what can actually take place in a classroom:

The statement issued today focuses on “intellectual pluralism and academic freedom,” and offers five “overarching principles” for colleges:

• Diversity of institutions is a “central feature and strength” of American higher education, and the individual missions of colleges, defined by the colleges themselves, “should set the tone for the academic activities undertaken.”
• Colleges should welcome “intellectual pluralism” and promote an environment where the debates fostered by such pluralism take place with a spirit of “openness, tolerance and civility.”
• Grades should be based “solely on considerations that are intellectually relevant to the subject matter under consideration,” and students and faculty members should be free from being punished for their political views. Any who feel that they have been discriminated against in this regard should have a “clear institutional process” for a grievance.
• The validity of ideas should be judged by “the intellectual standards of relevant academic and professional disciplines,” without any presumption that all ideas have equal merit.
• Government must respect colleges’ “independence,” creating a special obligation for colleges to assure academic freedom for all.

I suppose it was inevitable that some of “compromise” be reached. I have no problems with these five points of “academic responsibilities” but the thought that they had to be officially stated for the record because of conservative pressure and Republican ideological attacks still doesn’t sit well with me.