Academic Bill of Rights Would Ensure Diversity · 20 November 2003
By Congressman Joe Pitts--Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/17/03
Our children go to college to explore different sides of issues. They go to learn how to distinguish the truth among varying points of view. They go to learn how to think. And to become experts in their fields of study.
Consider the role that colleges play in our society: They educate our youth, train future leaders, drive research, advance scientific and medical knowledge, generate technological innovation, and shape the attitudes that define our culture.
One of the most important debates going on in these institutions is whether they are diverse enough. As a result of this debate, many colleges have made significant strides in attracting a more diverse faculty in terms of race and gender. But most schools that have achieved a diverse faculty in these ways have failed to become diverse in intellectual points of view.
The Center for the Study of Popular Culture did a recent study of 150 academic departments at 32 prestigious American colleges across the country. It found that the "overall ratio of Democrats to Republicans we were able to identify at the 32 schools was more than 10 to 1."
Party affiliation does not necessarily mean that a person holds a certain point of view. There are plenty of intraparty disagreements. And this fact does not in itself prove that our colleges are out to indoctrinate students with liberal ideology, as some would suggest.
Still, it raises serious questions about the education that students receive at universities around the country. It suggests that thousands of students go through an entire undergraduate experience and get only half the story from their professors. As factories of new ideas and future leaders, this can only hurt the educational opportunities offered to American college students.
This is important for several reasons.
First, a professor's point of view affects how he or she teaches a class. When all professors are singing from the same intellectual song sheet, students are not forced to adapt to varying points of view and different ideas. Once students leave school, they will be challenged to reconcile their ideas, their personalities and their training with coworkers and neighbors who do not agree with them. Because they have not been offered this experience in college, they are not adequately prepared for the challenge.
Second, it robs students of mentors. Most recent high school graduates who enter college are in the beginning stages of forming their opinions about the world. Though relationships between students and professors who disagree are valuable and necessary, students at this vulnerable place in life naturally gravitate toward professors who believe things that resonate with them, and they should have more opportunities to do so.
Without these mentors, many students may choose to abandon their quest for truth or, worse, simply accede to their professors' points of view. In either case, our universities are producing graduates who might have the technical knowledge in their majors but who are limited in their ability to think for themselves.
Third, when the faculty has members who disagree with one another, that encourages debate over ideas throughout the entire campus. This makes for a dynamic learning environment and encourages students to ask tough questions and dig for answers. Without it, the intellectual atmosphere can become stale.
Some of our colleges are the best in the world. But to maintain that distinction, I believe it is time for them to take steps to promote intellectual diversity on their campuses.
For that reason, I support a resolution that encourages every American university to adopt an Academic Bill of Rights.
This bill of rights recognizes that political partisanship is detrimental to the students' academic experience. The bill promotes intellectual diversity and an environment that is hospitable to all points of view. It calls for an end to unequal funding of student organizations that host guest speakers.
But the bill does not impose quotas based on party affiliation or ideology and does not dictate academic curriculum. It simply asks college administrators to promote diversity in ideas in addition to race and gender.
Not only will this give colleges a more intellectually diverse faculty, it also will give students a wider, deeper, richer exposure to the diversity of ideas.
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Joe Pitts represents Pennsylvania's 16th District (parts of Chester, Lancaster and Berks Counties) in Congress. He has cosponsored a resolution introduced by Georgia Congressman Jack Kingston's calling for an Academic Bill of Rights.
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