Let’s take a look at how the Republicans’ war on free speech and academic freedom is unfolding. While conservatives are not new to attacking universities, their recent success in using the levers of state power is relatively new. The latest clashes took place in Indiana, but they are not alone in their attempts to turn public universities into conservative mouthpieces.
On Thursday, Sarah Evans Barker, a federal judge in Indiana appointed by Reagan, suit A lawsuit filed by four Indiana University professors seeking to block the state from enacting an “intellectual diversity” law. lawThe law, which went into effect July 1, requires public institutions of higher education to grant, review and deny tenure based on whether faculty foster a “culture of free inquiry, free expression and intellectual diversity” and expose students to “diverse political or ideological frameworks.”
If it sounds vague but still bad, that’s because it is. This bill is a move that conservative students and be discriminated against In higher education.
The use of the term “intellectual diversity” is a clue. It’s a favorite term. right When you want to complain that conservative views aren’t adequately protected by higher education. It’s also the only kind of diversity that conservatives really like.
Indiana Law Define It explains “intellectual diversity,” but does not explain what “free inquiry” and “free expression” mean. The professors who sued to block the law have two very legitimate concerns. First, “intellectual diversity” is defined as whether professors present “a wide range of scholarly perspectives on a wide range of public policy issues.”
One of the professors who filed the lawsuit teaches about the Holocaust and explains that there are different perspectives on Holocaust studies. include Blatant Holocaust denial or revision. Another is teaching about slavery and various academic studies on slavery. include The idea that slavery was beneficial to black people. Under this law, those professors would have been required to teach that exposed and dangerous idea to demonstrate their commitment to “intellectual diversity.”
Lack of definitions for other terms creates other problems. If no one knows what “free inquiry” or “free speech” means under this law, no one knows how to avoid being caught by it. Laws like this are unconstitutionally vague and unsympathetic because they allow people to self-censor.
~ inside Dismiss Arguing that the lawsuit was premature, Judge Barker said the professors had not yet been harmed because there was no policy yet in place for the university to adopt based on that snarky comment. So Indiana professors are now starting the school year with a law that applies to them, potentially causing significant employment harm, but with no guidance on how to avoid it.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita gave professors a glimpse into what freedom of the press means in Indiana. claimed Their case. He thought that the university professors’ speech should be dismissed because it was actually government speech, and therefore the university could control what they said.
This claim directly contradicts all previous court rulings on the academic freedom of professors. These rulings Conclude routinely The First Amendment protects speech related to education or scholarship at public universities.
Rokita didn’t come up with this on his own. Florida has been pushing this line of reasoning for some time to support its own version of Indiana’s law. In June, the state’s attorney Said A federal appeals court ruled that “a professor’s speech in the classroom is government speech, and the government can restrict professors from presenting conflicting viewpoints across the board.”
Florida is a valuable example of what happens when conservatives take control of public universities, where Gov. Ron DeSantis has made war on higher education a priority. hand over control New College is a small public liberal arts college with a reputation for being anti-educational. Christopher Lupo. On Tuesday New College Hundreds of books Trashed in the dumpster as the gender and diversity center is emptied. School be abolished We did a gender study last year.
Meanwhile, Ohio has spent millions of taxpayer dollarsCenter for Intellectual Diversity“It is now required by law at several state universities. If anyone is wondering if this isn’t just another conservative grievance center funded by taxpayer money, Ohio State University just Lee Strang He became director of the newly opened Salmon P. Chase Center for Civic, Cultural, and Social Engagement.
Strang, formerly a law professor at the University of Toledo I received help conveniently It would be a remarkable thing to draft a law requiring a center for intellectual diversity. anti-abortion activist He is a believer in the personhood of the fetus. He boasts that this center will help people “prosper as citizens in a pluralistic republic.” This is a difficult pill to swallow, since he seems to believe that anyone with a womb is not a full citizen.
And speaking of abortion, Idaho trusted the marketplace of ideas at its public universities so much that it passed it. law In 2021, public universities were banned from using taxpayer funds to “promote, advocate for, or recommend abortion.” Several college professors sued the law, but their lawsuits were Got kicked out For similar reasons to Indiana earlier this year, they have yet to suffer any damage.
Attorney General Notified the court The point is that professors won’t be prosecuted for teaching and teaching about abortion, which is great, but it still leaves everyone else vulnerable to laws that don’t define what it means to advocate or counsel for abortion.
In Texas right now, criticizing the lieutenant governor can make you a professor. Investigate And it was officially condemned. It happened after Joy Alonzo, an opioid expert and Texas A&M professor, gave a speech criticizing Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick’s handling of the opioid crisis.
Unsurprisingly, Patrick is at the forefront of Texas’ efforts. Eliminate term of officeThis is another way the red state is trying to control public universities. North Dakota Conservatives failed The recent legislative session attempted to end the tenure of most community college professors, but they are gearing up for another attempt. If successful, they will join Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin are among the states that already have tenure restrictions for community college professors.
Over the past decade, complete term bans have been proposed in Oklahoma, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, and West Virginia. Recent research We found that term limits legislation was more likely to be introduced when Republicans controlled state legislatures and governors’ offices. Almost 5 times bigger Than other states.
Conservatives will continue to do this because the war on higher education is part of a larger war on modernization and multiculturalism. They are angry that they are losing in the marketplace of ideas, and they will continue to attack their own universities until they crumble under the pressure.
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