I've gotta hand it to my
campus newspaper - they've been all over the Academic Freedom Bill of Rights issue (despite a fluffer bio piece on Baxley earlier in the week that I mercifully can't find the link to).
Anyway...more below the fold.
Jeb Bush, already under scrutiny from the Schiavo debacle, doesn't seem to relish the idea of more of the same (scrutiny, that is). Though he and Baxley were chumming it up recently, he had this to say on Tuesday:
"I don't know that this bill itself is the solution to the problem, but I do believe that freedom should go both ways," Bush said. "If you're in the minority view in a university, your view should be able to be expressed. I think Rep. Baxley is right to open a debate on this, but whether we need to pass the bill or not, I don't know if that's necessary."
As many of you know already, Baxley hosted our favorite lefty-turned-righty David Horowitz as the only adademic speaker at his House Education Council workshop on Tuesday. Apparently he parroted his usual lines:
In his statement to the committee, Horowitz compared universities in America to those in the "third world," and said a large minority of professors don't behave like professionals in the classroom.
Casting the "crisis" in higher education as a struggle between "leftist totalitarianism" and "mainstream values," Horowitz cited anecdotes about students being marked down for disagreeing with professors in class. He divulged neither the names of these students nor their professors.
In addition to controlling what teachers can talk about in their classrooms, this group is also looking to have a hand in what speakers can or cannot be invited to a campus event. Typically this sort of thing is decided by student government or other student groups, but that would change under the careful guidance of Herr Horowitz:
When Rep. Ed Jennings, D-Gainesville, asked whether UF student organizations such as Accent, UF's speaker's bureau, had a right to spend student money as they see fit, Horowitz answered that "university kids" should be governed by "grown-ups" who can ensure the funds are spent equitably.
"I think the administration has a responsibility to the university community to see that there is equity," Horowitz said. "University administrations should step in and say, look kids, this is an education institution, not a political organization. If you bring in a left-wing extremist like Michael Moore, you should also bring a conservative such as Ann Coulter."
It's good to hear some of the D-Reps speaking out about this (see the article itself for more). Horowitz managed to scrape up a College Republican from FSU (Matthew Farrar) to talk about how the poor, persecuted Repubs were taking GPA hits due to their viewpoints, but he could supply names for none of the 10 complaints his organization claimed to have received.
In addition, faculty members showed up to have their say (much to the consternation of poor Baxley):
United Faculty of Florida President Tom Auxter, also a UF philosophy professor, told the committee the only evidence the bill's proponents could muster was a smattering of anecdotes.
"Florida already has some of the lowest salaries for professors in the nation," Auxter said. "It's already difficult for us to recruit and retain the best-qualified faculty. Please, don't make things any harder for us."
He said colleagues in other states had called him to ask why the bill, which he called "a national farce," has languished in other states where it was proposed but actually had a chance of passing the House.
After Auxter's statements, Baxley appeared flushed and agitated.
I'll be keeping an eye out for further developments. With opposition steadily and vocally rising against this bill I doubt it'll pass, but I want to see Baxley pay a political price for this borderline-fascist legislation and for associating with the likes of David Horowitz.