Hello, TBers
Our group was started several years ago for the purpose of discussing ways to improve our teaching.   We've had many useful and wide-ranging discussions that I've put to good use in my classroom.

I'm therefore a bit unsure about introducing a subject to our discussion that might be considered both policital and tangential to our central goal of better teaching, but I see a relationship between this subject and future curricular goals, so I'll send this note with apologies if it's inappropriate for this group.

I'm writing about the Academic Bill of Rights that is being circulated throughout the nation and at the SUNY Board of Trustees meetings.

The A. Bill of Rights has been around for at least two years and has been endorsed by more than 150 chapters of the Students for Academic Freedom throughout the country. It may have been approved by The House Education Committee of the Colorado General Assembly, and it may have served as a guiding force in curricular change at some colleges, as has been proposed by Trustee De Russy for SUNY.

It seemed to me that we  should be aware of the activities and victories of the Students for Academic Freedom.  I asked a very conservative acquaintance of mine for a reading list to pass along to you.  He recommended that I read articles by the author of the Academic Bill of Rights, David Horowitz.  My acquaintance also said,  ”No matter on what side your colleagues come down on the issues, studying them is timely.  Conservatives are preparing to engage the academy on many fronts.  All the surveys concerning the political affiliations of professors and perceived biases in their teaching are only the first shots across the bow.”   

David Horowitz, author of the Academic Bill of Rights, responded to the AAUP statement about his Academic Bill of Rights.  He said, in part, “Instead of a reasoned, fair-minded response, the American Association of University Professors had issued an intemperate, misleading and at times incoherent denunciation of the bill itself. If any act might serve as a symbol of the problems that have beset the academy in the last thirty years – its intense politicization and partisanship and consequent loss of scholarly perspective – it is this unscholarly assault on a document whose philosophy, formulations and very conception are drawn from its own statements and positions on academic freedom arrived at over nearly a century. Ironically, it is the AAUP’s own unprincipled behavior that demonstrates the need for a constitutional restraint.”

I see no sign that the Students for Academic Freedom and similar groups will “go away” if we ignore them or are ignorant of their ideologies and methods. I understand that this listserv is probably not the place to engage in further discourse on this subject, but I ask that you learn about these groups and consider appropriate action.  The SAF and other similar groups are having a demonstrable effect on some of our Trustees and many of our state and federal government officials.  The SAF is therefore a force to be considered when we do our best to become a model for excellence in higher education.

If you’d like to examine primary sources, please
read articles of conservative columnist David Horowitz at:
http://www.frontpagemag.com

Go to the website of Students for Academic Freedom to read Mission and Plans of this group
www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org

Here’s a copy of the Academic Bill of Rights.
www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org/abor.html
       
AAUP response to Academic Bill of Rights
http://www.aaup.org/statements/SpchState/billofrights.htm

A recent conservative comment on Professor Ward Churchill
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/ts20050215.shtml

Thank you,

Janet