Colleges & Universities

Academic Freedom & the "Academic Bill of Rights" Movement

NOTE: When reading about and discussing controversial issues, it is important to become informed about more than one side of the issue, and to take extra care to evaluate the information sources you use.

Overview Articles
Proposed Legislation
Online Database Searches
Samples of Statements Which Oppose ABOR Legislation
Samples of Statements Which Support ABOR Legislation
Related SRJC Policies and Procedures
Operation Red Scare, SRJC, Spring 2005

Overview Articles

• "What Is Academic Freedom?," (from the First Amendment Center, Vanderbilt University)
• Hebel, Sarah. "Patrolling Professors' Politics," Chronicle of Higher Education, February 13, 2004. (Overview article, several opinion articles and an excerpt from an "Academic Bill of Rights.")
• Jacobson, Jennifer. "A Liberal Professor Fights a Label," Chronicle of Higher Education, November 26, 2004.

Proposed Legislation

• Language Proposed in Federal Higher Education Act, 2005
• House Concurrent Resolution 318, 108th Congress (Referred to committee, November 17, 2003)
• State[s] Legislation Proposing an "Academic Bill of Rights"
• California Senate Bill SB 5, Morrow, introduced December 6, 2004. Bill status and history ... Senate Education Committee
• Comparison of SB5 and earlier version, SB1335, prepared by Graham Larkin, December 16, 2004

Online Database Searches

• ProQuest search for articles on "academic bill of rights" (Off campus? Use off campus link to ProQuest.)
• Expanded Academic ASAP database - Advanced Search mode search for (ke liberalism OR ke conservatism) and su colleges and universities
• See also the Expanded Academic ASAP database under subject headings such as Academic freedom and Academic freedom with the subtopics --analysis, -- evaluation, and other relevant subtopics.
• ProQuest subject mode search for academic freedom

Samples of Statements Which Oppose ABOR Type Legislation

• Integrity in the Learning Environment (Academic Senate of the California Community Colleges)
• The "Academic Bill of Rights" Campaign Proposes Government Oversight of Teaching and Learning (American Association of University Professors presents various statements and web links.)
• "Assault on Faculty Heats Up," E-Newsletter of the California Conference of the American Association of University Professors, January, 2005.
• Response to the Academic Bill of Rights (California Conference of the American Association of University Professors)
• Message from Marcus Harvey, AAUP, on SB 1335, the previous version of SB5.
• Framing the Debate, by George Lakoff (Article on a related topic, i.e. the importance of language in framing the debate on controversial issues)

Samples of Statements Which Support ABOR Type Legislation

• SAF: Students for Academic Freedom web site (Contains many articles in support and also links to other conservative web sites.)
• It's Time for Fairness and Inclusion in Our Universities, by David Horowitz, founder of the ABOR movement. December 14, 2004.
• Numerous articles concerning the "Academic Bill of Rights" movement, published in FrontpageMagazine.com, the online magazine of David Horowitz, founder of the "Academic Bill of Rights" movement

Related SRJC Policies and Procedures

• SRJC Board policies pertaining to Academic Freedom
• SRJC Faculty Contract Article 9: Academic Freedom
• SRJC Student Conduct Standards and Due Process
• SRJC Rules & Regulations - Student Grievances / Complaints

Operation Red Scare, SRJC, Spring 2005

• Operation Red Scare Information Site, compiled by SRJC Philosophy instructor Michael [Donovan] Aparicio. Offers a chronology of events, links to news stories, comments, blog responses and articles and commentary concerning academic freedom, academic bias and attempts to legislate pedagogy.