Academic Bill of Rights Forum

I have been invited to speak about the Academic Bill of Rights at an upcoming meeting of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club. Having just returned from a stimulating couple of days in Washington DC attending the tail end of CPAC and the Academic Freedom Conference sponsored by Students for Academic Freedom, I look forward to the opportunity to keeping the spirit and momentum going for freedom and liberty on New York campuses.

The highlight of the event was the powerful speech by Former Senator Rick Santorum who explicitly named the enemy we are facing, not terrorism, which is a mere tactic, but the ideological foe of radical Islam. We must take the battle to our campuses with the zeal of missionaries to educate the next generation. The next day many students shared their episodes of coercion and political harassment in the classroom and even death threats for voicing contrary political viewpoints. This conference demonstrated the urgent need for students to stand up for their freedom of speech and conscience on campus and underscored our patriotic duty as citizens of our great country to join together with students and professors of good conscience in the battle for academic freedom.

Bob Capano, president of the club has opened the invitation to local students and professors to come join the forum and share their experiences if they desire. Please email me for more information. Here is the press announcement of the event:

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Brooklyn Young Republican Club to Host Forum on “Academic Bill of Rights”

Legislation to Protect Student and Faculty Free Speech Rights on College Campuses to Be Discussed

[Brooklyn, NY] – Bob Capano, President of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club (BYRC), today announced that the BYRC will be hosting a forum on an “Academic Bill of Rights” at their monthly meeting on Wednesday, March 14th at 7:30 p.m. at Peggy O’Neill’s, located at 8123 5th Avenue in Bay Ridge.

Phil Orenstein, an activist in the nationwide academic freedom and reform movement who also just returned from the annual Academic Freedom Conference in Washington, D.C., will speak about the “Academic Bill of Rights”. This legislation is currently pending in the NYS Senate (S2300) and in the NYS Assembly (A04406). The legislation is currently active in some 20 state legislatures. The bill provides that:

1. students should be graded on the basis of their work, not their political or religious beliefs
2. students fees should be distributed fairly
3. professors should not use the classroom for political indoctrination or interject irrelevant political, religious or anti-religious diatribes
4. faculty should be hired or fired or promoted on merit, and not on the basis of their political views or religious beliefs
5. students have the right to a wide diversity of scholarly opinions
6. requires that educational institutions create grievance procedures for violations of student's freedom of speech and conscience and inform students of such procedures

Capano stated, “We are thrilled to sponsor a substantive forum on a topic that many students and instructors at college campuses cite as an issue that should be studied and addressed. As an adjunct Professor of Political Science over the past several years, I know that it is important to provide a balanced, impartial learning environment so that students can make their own informed decisions and know that they will be graded fairly. We look forward to hearing more about this proposed legislation.”

For more information on the Brooklyn Young Republican Club, go to www.brooklynyr.com
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