The House Select Committee on Academic Freedom in Higher Education said it found little evidence that Pennsylvania university students are subject to their professors’ political views in class, so there is no need to adopt a statewide policy to deal with those concerns.

The committee’s report is the result of eight days’ worth of testimony at hearings held across the state from September 2005 through June. Recommendations adopted Tuesday call for schools to review their academic-freedom policies and inform students of them.

State Rep. Gibson C. Armstrong, who urged the formation of the committee, called the final report on the hearings “watered down” and said the recommendations might have been stronger.

“We could have done a better job of directing the universities to ensure that they have academic policies that students are aware of,” he said Tuesday. “But in general, we sent the message, and universities got the message. I hope this will lead to a new era of tolerance of ideas in some of our classrooms.”

Not everyone on Pennsylvania’s 14-member bipartisan committee is convinced a problem exists, despite a national debate fueled largely by writer-activist David Horowitz, one of the conservatives demanding an “academic bill of rights” for students attending taxpayer-funded institutions.

“We reaffirmed, basically, that these institutions are doing a terrific job, that in fact academic freedom flourishes,” state Rep. Dan Frankel of Allegheny County said. “The only real issue is how well disseminated (policies) are among faculty and students.”

Armstrong said he called for the inquiry last summer after receiving complaints from students who felt they were treated unfairly by their professors because of their political views.

After Tuesday’s committee meeting, Armstrong said there was a “significant problem when it comes to academic freedom.”

“All the professors knew the rules, but none of the students knew the rules,” Armstrong said. “Most of the reason students didn’t complain was that they didn’t know they could.

“This is not treated with the seriousness that gender and racial discrimination is. Students just think that they have to sit there and take it.”

The Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties, the union that represents professors at the state’s 14 public colleges and universities, praised the committee’s findings in a statement and said the inquiry was based on unfounded complaints.

“A year of our time and a lot of taxpayer dollars were used to find nothing,” said union president Pat Heilman.

Armstrong, who lost his chance to run for a third term in the May primary, said he doesn’t expect to continue pursing academic-freedom issues after he leaves office in December. He said he doesn’t know how much taxpayers paid for the slate of academic freedom hearings, but they were well worth the price.

“Whatever the cost, it was a fraction of the $2 billion we spend on education,” Armstrong said.


Susan Lindt’s e-mail address is slindt@lnpnews.com.