Bills filed in Florida and TN, maybe more, to stifle professors. [View All]

[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.''