The Academic Bill of Rights is a statement that conservatives are pushing in order to return intellectual freedom to campuses, liberating it from the liberal stranglehold on American Universities (see David Horowitz’s claim that a Stanford study reported the ratio of liberal to conservative junior profs on college campuses is 30:1). Legislation is being pushed in state legislatures around the country to get these ideas instituted as law for University practice.
Of course, liberal university professors are taking exception to the ABOR. There are money raising campaigns, plus David Horowitz’s supportive comments of this effort at Frontpage Mag. The basic tenets of the ABOR can be summarized this way:
- Hiring, firing, promoting or granting tenure shall be on the basis of performance – not on the basis of political or religious beliefs. An absolute must to protect academic freedom!
- Tenure, search and hiring committee meetings will be recorded and available to duly authorized authorities empowered to inquire into the integrity of the process. Once again, political philosophy or religious beliefs may not enter into the picture.
- Students will be graded on their work … not their political beliefs or religion.
- Course content and reading lists in humanities and social sciences will reflect diverse concepts and viewpoints – not just the overwhelmingly leftist content that is being fed to our college students today.
- Selection of speakers, allocation of funds for speaker activities and other student activities will observe the principles of academic freedom and promote intellectual balance. A CSPC review of major university commencement speakers revealed that 99 percent were self-identified Democrats or liberals.
- Academic institutions and professional societies should maintain a posture of organizational neutrality.
