Students for Academic Freedom Issue Year-End Report

In its first academic year of operations, Students for Academic Freedom has become a nationwide campus movement dedicated to promoting intellectual diversity and to removing political partisanship from the classroom. SAF has inspired legislators in at least ten states and the U.S. Congress to take up the Academic Bill of Rights. Its website www.studentsforacademicfreedom.org has become a leading destination for college students across America. As the end of the school year approaches, it’s time to take stock of our record of accomplishment.

Principal achievements:

The creation of 135 chapters on as many college and university campuses across the country in just two school terms. Among the schools organized are Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Duke, Brown, UCLA, Berkeley, U. Wisconsin-Madison, Missouri, Emory, Georgia Tech, Michigan and American University.

These chapters are collecting documentation of political abuses in the classroom and advocating passage of the Academic Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights calls on colleges and universities to end discrimination in hiring practices based on political or religious beliefs and to promote intellectual diversity and academic freedom on campus. By exposing partisanship in the classroom to public scrutiny, SAF has helped to create nationwide awareness of widespread classroom indoctrination and partisan discrimination on college campuses.

United States Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA) has introduced the Academic Bill of Rights as House Concurrent Resolution 318, which calls for colleges and universities to voluntarily end discrimination in hiring practices based on political or religious beliefs and to promote intellectual diversity on campus. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) has agreed to sponsor similar legislation in the U.S. Senate in September....

Other achievements (partial list):

San Francisco State University reversed the expulsion of student Tatiana Menaker, a Russian Jewish refugee, who had been expelled for five years after comments she made objecting to a Palestinian campus demonstration at which activists shouted “Hitler didn’t finish the job.” She was not granted a hearing in her own defense, but instead was immediately escorted off campus by three uniformed campus police officers. Students for Academic Freedom organized a “Tatiana Menaker Defense Committee” which succeeded in negotiating her immediate reinstatement as a student.

At Metro State (Denver) student George Culpepper was banned from the Political Science Association by its faculty advisor Oneida Meranto, along with all College Republicans. When he testified about the episode to a Senate hearing for the Academic Bill of Rights, Professor Meranto publicly attacked him in the Denver Post, claiming that his testimony was sour grapes because he was failing her class. In fact, Culpepper was earning a B+ in her course until he voluntarily dropped it because of her bias. In making this false statement to the press, Meranto violated the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), which forbids teachers from discussing their students’ grades and educational progress publicly. SAF took up Culpepper’s defense, bringing widespread media attention and Meranto’s resignation as faculty advisor to the student Political Science Association.

At Georgia Tech, Ruth Malharto, a public policy major was told by her public policy professor that she would fail her course because she went to a conservative conference in Washington. SAF notified the dean of diversity at Georgia Tech, congressman Jack Kingston and the office of governor Sonny Perdue. All three intervened in behalf of the student who was allowed to withdraw from the course without penalty....