ASUSU passes Academic Bill of Rights
Students are one step closer to having their academic freedom ensured.
An Academic Bill of Rights presented two weeks ago by Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Senator Gabe White to the Associated Students of Utah State University Executive Council was passed Tuesday and will now be taken to the University Staters Council where President Kermit L. Hall will be able to view the resolution.
“The purpose of this Academic Bill of Rights, as we’ve already discussed, is to protect the academic freedom of students,” White said.
The document would set guidelines for the university to follow that would protect students and faculty from expressing political or religious views that don’t agree with administrators or other faculty.
Many council members spoke in favor of the resolution with the opponents of the issue remaining fairly quiet. The resolution passed by a 12-5 vote, with one abstention.
Academics Vice President Karla Petty said some have asked why USU needs an Academic Bill of Rights.
“We’re being measured against other universities,” Petty said.
One of Petty’s campaign goals was to make sure USU was more academically competitive with peer institutions. She said this bill of rights is a big step in that area.
Last week, the resolution was tabled after graduate student Jeremy Kidd presented a revised version of the bill he had made. Kidd claimed the resolution was too verbose in its original form.
Kidd worked with ASUSU officers to revise the bill to its new form that passed the council’s vote.
“I just think that this has been revised well enough that it’s condensed down and it says exactly what it should say and I think it’s something we should support,” said Natural Resources Senator Scott Shine.
Activities Vice President Tara Bradshaw said she had some qualms with parts of the resolution that pertain to campus activities.
“I think overall the bill is good. I think it says good things,” she said. “The problem I have, with the activities [section of the bill] – I guess I look at it and I say, ‘why do we have an Arts and Lectures Series, why do we have a diversity vice president?'”
Bradshaw said she sees it as her job and the job of other ASUSU officers to produce activities that challenge the norms and give people different points of view.
“Do we bring in a general authority from the Mormon church because we’re all Mormon to speak?” Bradshaw asked.
Student Advocate Vice President Les Essig commented on what Bradshaw said.
He said that a few weeks ago, ASUSU dropped $19,000 to bring speaker Anna Deveare Smith to campus, an event that fewer than 100 students attended. He said if USU brought a general authority from the LDS church to speak, thousands of students would attend.
Essig said the issue is protecting students for having different points of view.
“We’re just saying that people should be protected. Anybody’s viewpoint – whether they’re a communist, a republican, democrat, whatever they are – they can say whatever they want or they can be brought in, regardless of that,” Petty said.
Graduate Studies Vice President Stephanie Kukic said she didn’t see students and faculty facing problems with academic freedom as a big problem at USU.
“I guess by implementing this are we making another loop that we have to jump through?” Kukic asked. “It’s just one more thing that people can argue against and I just don’t feel like we need this right now. I actually support most of it, but I’m just uncomfortable with giving my whole support because I don’t know if it’s a big problem on campus.”
White said it is a problem at USU. Last year’s Arts and Lectures Vice President Julie Dethrow had some signs for the Spike Lee speech stolen, White said.
“This is a huge problem on campus and I think it fits in really well with the rest of the resolution because it talks about allowing people to speak, allowing people to put forth their opinion without destroying literature, hiding their A-frames or taking down their signs,” White said.
In other council business, the council approved two bills giving funding to organizations from the capital and support fund.
Shine received $500 to put toward enrolling USU in a national ecology program as part of the university’s AggiEcology initiative. Extension Vice President Tagg Archibald also received $500 to give to the Uintah Basin campus to help fund activities that the school put on at that location.
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