Minnesota State University Reporter

Vandeveer [Click to enlarge]

Bachmann [Click to enlarge]

If two Minnesota legislators get their way, university faculty members may not be allowed to profess their political views to their students.

A nationwide movement stopping professors at publicly funded universities from using the classroom as a stage to promote their personal ideological beliefs reached the doorsteps of the Minnesota Capitol March 2.

The legislation was introduced by Sen. Michele Bachmann, R-Stillwater, and Rep. Ray Vandeveer, R-Forest Lake. The purpose of the bill, according to a news release from Bachmann's office, is to "make certain students at higher education institutions are able to learn and share their views in an environment free from intimidation and discrimination, and to ensure that such institutions don't hire, fire, grant tenure or deny promotions on the basis of political beliefs."

Scott Olson, vice president of academic affairs at Minnesota State, recently went through the promotions tenure process of faculty. According to Olson, the personal ideology of the faculty carried no weight in the decision-making process.

"I can assure you, that in no instance was ideology a factor...[in determining tenure status]," Olson said.

Similar bills have been introduced in 21 other states. The movement is spearheaded by Students for Academic Freedom (SAF), a Washington-based student network created by conservative activist David Horowitz. According to the organization's Web site, studentsforacademicfreedrom.org, their goal is "to end the political abuse of the university, and to restore integrity to the academic mission as a disinterested pursuit of knowledge."

The crux of the issue, conservatives argue, is that many college campuses are overflowing with liberals. This results in conservative students being outnumbered and feeling alienated.

Olson said that MSU has a faculty with a broad spectrum of ideologies. He hopes that students would be willing to encounter professors with different viewpoints than their own.

"I know here at MSU, we have wide range of political beliefs as part of our faculty," Olson said.

The idea that faculty shouldn't be allowed to express their ideologies in class is flawed, according to Olson.

"I think it's a really bad idea," Olson said. "I am not sure how it is workable."

Chuck Lewis, the chair of the mass communications department at MSU, said the public has a misconception that universities are a bastion of liberalism. In his view, the legislatures have an uphill battle to fight before it's passed.

"I do think [they are] misguided or not really serious about it," Lewis said.

If students have a problem with what their professor is saying in class, the student should talk with them first, Olson said. In addition, if students feel they were given a grade unfairly, there is a grade appeal process that addresses those situations. According to Olson, a majority of the grade appeals that he encounters are a result of plagiarism and not disputes with faculty members.

"I don't believe, since I have arrived here, that I have had single student come to me with an ideological complaint," he said.

Adam Weigold, chairperson of the College Republicans on campus, said that he has had club members tell him they dropped a class because of a professor's political ideology.

According to Weigold, one student had a math class and the professor spent the whole hour bashing President Bush. The junior computer science major would like to see both sides of an issue discussed in class.

"A college campus should be a melting pot of ideologies," Weigold said. "Right now at college campuses, you usually only get indicted with one ideology."

Horowitz, the head of SAF, studied the ideological beliefs of 32 elite colleges in the country. He found that Democratic professors and administrators outnumbered their Republican colleagues by a ratio of more than 10 to 1.

Lewis doesn't think the proposed bill would do any good. While teaching, he has had students tell him they think he is liberal and conservative; he takes that as a compliment. He does, however, have a quandary with some faculty members who are overly open about their political views.

"I don't think you should wear your politics on your sleeve in this type of environment," Lewis said. "I do think, for the sake of students, you don't want to alienate students who may have a different opinion ... by doing that it could have a chilling effect in the classroom."

Steve Morris is a Reporter staff writer

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