Students concerned about professor bias; ASUSU revisits bill of rights
The Academic Bill of Rights resolution passed by the Associated Students of Utah State University in November is back and officers hope to become more educated about the document.
The resolution, authored by Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Senator Gabe White, was passed by ASUSU late last year, but Graduate Studies Vice President Stephanie Kukic reintroduced the legislation to the council.
About 15 students attended the ASUSU meeting Tuesday, some in support of and others against the bill of rights.
“This bill is an attempt to go around the system,” said Eric Hilleman, a senior studying political science. “If the students have a grievance with the university or with certain faculty members, then the students need to go through the system.”
The system Hilleman mentions is a grievance process students can go through if they feel they were discriminated by a professor for any reason, political reasons included. The Academic Bill of Rights was introduced as a way to protect students from being harmed by faculty members’ potential political biases.
Students like senior history major Tom Robins said they have been hurt academically because of the liberal professors at USU.
Robins said he was singled out in one class after he spoke in favor of the United States war in Iraq. Robins said the next paper he received back from the professor was given an F grade; the first Robins said he had ever received. He claimed the liberal bias of the professor contributed to the situation.
Robins was asked if he had gone through the grievance process for dealing with the situation; he said he had not.
Medlir Mema, a senior political science major, also spoke against the resolution. Mema said he originally supported the bill of rights, but after doing more research and hearing more information about the issue, was against it.
Mema said information on the Web site www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org gave instructions for students to set up watch lists for professors, instructing students to monitor the political tendencies of various faculty members. Mema said that notion invoked shades of the Joseph McCarthy era, with students potentially monitoring professors and auditing their political views.
White acknowledged that some universities have made lists to keep track of professors’ views, but said that is something he had no intention of imposing with the bill of rights.
“The resolution changes no university policy. It calls attention to a problem that a lot of students feel is important,” White said.
Student Advocate Vice President Les Essig said the bill of rights has huge benefits for students, as it is something that covers people on both ends of the political spectrum.
“[The resolution] is a suggestion, it’s not here to act for one party or another,” he said.
Kukic made a motion for any further decisions on the resolution to be held until next week, but did not receive a second on the motion. She said she was waiting on e-mails from various college deans and had heard from other students that they oppose the issue.
Kukic asked for someone on the council to make a motion to table the resolution until next week, saying that ASUSU owes it to the students to become more educated on the issue before making any decisions.
Academic Vice President Karla Petty motioned to postpone a decision on the issue until next week after hearing Kukic’s plea.
“There is not a single person in this room who does not believe in the concept of academic freedom,” Petty said. “We can look at the university policy that we did not look at before.
“We need to look it over again. I’m not saying we need to vote it down and I’m not saying we need to vote for it, we need a week to look it over.”
The need for an extra week to study the issue was echoed by Executive Vice President Ariel Thrapp.
“Education is the key to making the best decision for the students,” she said.
Thrapp said last week’s events surrounding the Stadium/Spectrum Bond issue showed the importance of ASUSU being as educated as possible before making any decisions.
The Academic Bill of Rights will be discussed next Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the council chambers on the third floor of the Taggart Student Center.
-str@cc.usu.edu