Bills filed in Florida and TN, maybe more, to stifle professors.

[madfloridian]

This is another step on the road to Bush's Managed Democracy....see the article by Robert Parry I posted below. I reposted this from another forum because of the Santa Rosa event. It was archived.

We ignore people like Baxley at our peril. Also he is a trusted friend of Jeb.

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050225/NEWS/502250344/1134

TALLAHASSEE -- SNIP..."Battling what he calls a "quiet prejudice" against conservative views on university campuses, a Florida lawmaker is proposing a "bill of rights" that some claim is an effort to stifle the academic freedoms the bill seeks to protect.

Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, filed House Bill 837 after he attended a meeting last year in St. Louis where well-known conservative activist David Horowitz railed against liberal biases on campus toward professors and students.

The bill borrows heavily from a template used in similar bills filed nationwide with the help of Horowitz's group, Students for Academic Freedom.

House Bill 837 promises to protect "free inquiry and free speech within the academic community." A portion of the bill says that students should not have their academic freedom "infringed upon by instructors who persistently introduce controversial matter into the classroom that has no relation to the subject of study and serves no legitimate pedagogical purpose." Baxley said that simply means a science professor should stick to that topic and not let any digressions into other matters affect the class...."

"The bill's odds of success are unknown, but they're aided by Baxley's sponsorship. He is the chair of the House's Education Council. And earlier this week, Gov. Jeb Bush said Baxley was one of his closest allies in the Legislature....."END SNIP

On Edit: Forgot the link to Bush and the Rise of Managed Democracy.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/021205.html

The Horowitz bunch is trying to do this in TN as well. Hate to link to Front Page, but here it is. We need to be on guard.

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=17114

SNIP.."CHATTANOOGA — A move to create a bill of rights for college students, protecting them from political or religious ''indoctrination'' by faculty members, is part of a larger nationwide push by a conservative group.

Bills filed in the state House and Senate are similar to legislation proposed in at least 20 states and based on ideals backed by Students for Academic Freedom, a Washington, D.C.-based student network founded by conservative activist David Horowitz.

It's intended to ''uphold the presence of multisided academic debate on our campuses,'' said Rep. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, a sponsor of the House bill.

''Most campuses are very liberal, and professors are ashamedly not very open-minded toward our point of view,'' he said. ''When somebody speaks up, a lot of times it ends up costing the student their grade.''

[trudyco]

1. Wow trying to be more like Hitler every day

So Churchil in Colorado was the poster boy. Now there are red stars painted on professors' doors. Now bills stifling free speech. What's next?

And nobody in the MSM is crying out?

[Chipper Chat]

3. Dont look now, but secession is inevitable.

The blue states are NOT going to put up with this crap. It may not happen until 2010 or so, but this ultra-right-wing agenda is going to cause a shitstorm.

[FreedomAngel82]

14. This is sad

I go to a local community school here in Chattanooga and have never had a problem with teachers. All of my teachers have been great. :shrug:
My school seems to be pretty neutral. I see a lot of bumper stickers of both Bush and Kerry. Around the election when I was there I saw a little more of Kerry.

[Webster Green]

2. What is/was the Santa Rosa event you referred to?

Thanks!

[madfloridian]

4. In this forum.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1633999&mesg_id=1633999

[i miss america]

5. I sure hope college kids have the same courage their parents did

by protesting on campuses across the country.

I hoped the Red Star incident would be an isolated one:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1633999

I truly fear the worst is yet to come.

[no name no slogan]

6. Minnesota, too, I heard this morning

A similar bill to prevent conservative students from "retaliation" was introduced into our state leg by Michelle Bachmann (R-Wingnutville). However, it's highly unlike it will pass.

Michelle Bachmann was the one who introduced a bill to ban gay marriage last session. She's a proud member of MN's Flat-Earthers for Ignorance, and is a regular target of scorn and derision-- oftentimes, by her own party.

[FreedomAngel82]

16. There should be a bill

around these right-wingers and what they're doing to us! :grr: I guess we don't mean anything to them huh? :argh:

[Bridget Burke]

7. In my long & checkered academic career....

I never remember a teacher being annoyed by opposing opinions. Opinions stupidly worded, perhaps. Even then, the professor responded & tried to encourage better thinking. It's called "teaching."

Mostly, I remember the teachers staring in despair at the ranks of silent dullards, hoping for any response. The most common question offered was "Will this be on the test?"

How many of those dullards will keep their mouths shut but jot down notes about being "intimidated"?

Too bad they all can't go to Bob Jones University.

[madfloridian]

22. I saw a little of it starting, at lower grade level, before I retired.

The home schoolers who would enter my 4 and 5th grade classes were reporting back to their parents whenever anything politically or religiously incorrect was said by anyone. Many of them in area were using the same church based system at home.

I saw the beginnings of the fear of having Halloween decorations in the classroom, or even having cupcakes brought in that day.

I remember we watched series on PBS on which a famous person would read a book. I don't remember the details, but I got an ugly letter the next day about one book not being proper.

There were many other things at that level, strains of intolerance showing. It shook me, because it was more extreme than I had ever seen in all the years I taught.

[DeepModem Mom]

8. Thanks for this important post -- n/t

[msongs]

9. same tactics the nazis used when they were trying to take over in

germany, and once they had power, the rest is history.........

Msongs
www.msongs.com/liberaltshirts.htm

PS - loved the remark above where the writer claimed speaking out cost students their grades........where is the proof of that claim...or like most republican claims, they are false and made deliberately. Why do you hate America LOL

[madfloridian]

10. Ohio, as well. Horowitz inspiration again.

http://www.mariettatimes.com/news/story/0224202005_new02muzle.asp

Bill would muzzle Ohio professors
"When Ralph Carbone addresses his students in class, he assumes they understand that the discussions may become controversial and heated.

"Most of what I do in class is confronting controversial topics and challenge the logic of both sides," said Washington State Community College chairman of the department of social and behavioral sciences. "The whole idea of liberal education is to question traditional values. I mean that's been the case since Socrates."
Now some say the basis of liberal education is being put in jeopardy by Ohio Senate Bill 24 called the "academic bill of rights for higher education."

The bill's sponsor is reacting to the perception that the majority of colleges have a liberal bias that may be detrimental to the education of some students.

The bill proposes to limit what professors can say to their students at both private and public colleges as a means to prevent personal biases from affecting teaching. It covers controversial issues such as abortion, gun control, religion and political affiliations as well as the hiring, firing and promoting of college professors."

[FreedomAngel82]

17. Goodbye

to smart thinking of history and science. *sigh* I guess they want us to be dumber eh? Next they're going to try to bring religion classes back into school that's required. I'm not against religious classes in school though. I've taken two and the teacher wasn't aloud to preach to us (but just history stuff) and it was a choice class.

[madfloridian]

11. Nine states are doing this....article.

Again, I apologize for the Front Page reference, but we need to know.
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=16916

"Conservative lawmakers and activists are seeking to whip up interest in at least nine states in countering what they say is an overwhelming liberal bias at the nation’s colleges and universities.

But some free speech advocates and university officials say that efforts to mandate intellectual diversity are misguided and could have the opposite effect and suppress any speech that might be controversial.

Legislators in the Republican-controlled statehouses of Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah, as well as Democratically-controlled Washington state, are expected to consider an “Academic Bill of Rights,” a proposal that seeks to keep students’ grades from being affected by their political or religious beliefs.

In addition, it calls for faculty to “make their students aware of serious scholarly viewpoints other than their own,” and would make it illegal for instructors to be hired, fired or rejected for tenure because of their political or religious views. ..."

Ok, so I guess add Colorado and Ohio to the above list and that makes nine.

[Just Me]

12. Yep. The wave of fascist-type controls is growing.

:scared:

We need to collect and track this stuff. I know there are more than merely a handful of incidents. It's really starting to get serious.

[CindyDale]

13. Don't these right wingers understand the reason for their poor grades?

You have to read, study, think to get good grades.

Even Republicans can get good grades if they do that. I knew one who did.

These people think they have to dumb down the universities to their level. Great idea.

[madfloridian]

15. LOL I knew one who got good grades, too.

That makes a total of two. Funny.
:hi:

[madfloridian]

18. More about "managed democracy".....Parry.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/021205.html

"Under this vision of a “managed-democracy,” elections will still be held but a variety of techniques will ensure that no Democrat has a reasonable chance to win. Most important will be the use of sophisticated propaganda and smear tactics amplified through a vast conservative media infrastructure, aided and abetted by a compliant mainstream press."

Controlling every aspect means not just media but speech as well.

[UrbScotty]

19. What about the 'liberal' media? (nt)

[colonel odis]

20. i've got a feeling if they were a little more intelligent and made

slightly better grades, these "conservative" students wouldn't be up in arms thusly.

whatever happened to the "dog ate my homework" or "i was out till 3 a.m." excuse for doing poorly in school. now they have to say their professors are commies to rationalize being ignorant.

[madfloridian]

21. Kick

.

[Greybnk48]

23. Wisconsin

A backhanded version was attached to a legislative protest against Churchill speaking at UW Whitewater (Res. 15).

It's a sad day when half literate politicians want to allow high school graduates and their parents to determine what is and isn't taught at universities. Many of these young adults can't locate Mexico on a map.