The Presidency is to be commended for publishing Kermit Hall's
"A
Cautionary Tale of Academic Rights and Responsibilities" (392KB;
PDF; fall 2005), which addresses the issues raised in the Academic Bill
of Rights, of which I am the author. President Hall is right that the
legislative success of this bill is the result of a growing movement
among conservatives generally, and Republican legislators in particular,
for reform in the administration of our university system.
He also is right that it is important for administrators to address
the various issues fueling this movement in order to protect the
credibility of the academic community and insulate institutions of
higher learning from irresponsible public attack. Those
issues—which I define as a lack of intellectual diversity on
faculties and in curricula, abusive use of the classroom for nonacademic
agendas, and lack of equity in the distribution of student activities
funds—are driving my call for reform. . . .
Excerpted from the spring 2006 issue of The Presidency.
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