Advocate Online

From Capitol to Campus

As Congress begins its third attempt in five years to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, free speech on campus is again part of the debate. The so-called “Academic Bill of Rights” seeks to amend the Higher Education Act to make ideologically driven changes under the guise of protecting students against purported, unproven bias by faculty.

NEA argues that colleges and universities have sufficient policies and procedures already in place to ensure the quality of education while guaranteeing the rights of students and faculty alike, including tenure and due process policies to protect academic freedom, statements of student rights and responsibilities, and student grievance procedures. 

The current Higher Education Act also already has a provision addressing “Protection of Student Speech and Association Rights.”

While House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) has indicated that his reauthorization proposal will not expand or modify the current law provisions, the language in the Senate implies that the government has a role in defining what “free and open exchange of ideas” means and leaves open the possibility that the very act of grading could be considered a form of discrimination. 

NEA notes that 28 states have considered legislation aimed at correcting an alleged “political bias” at their state colleges and universities. After examining the evidence, no state enacted this legislation.

NEA believes that adopting the provisions of the so-called the “Academic Bill of Rights would send a chilling message to our nation’s professors, and stifle open debate and free exchange of ideas so fundamental to higher education.