At our recent plenary session
last week, delegates from San Diego County drew
our attention to SB 1335 (Morrow). Although couched
in seemingly neutral terms that would "protect"
academic freedom, the "Academic Bill of Rights"
legislation actually seeks to stifle political
discussion and ensure that "academic institutions
and professional societies shall maintain a posture
of organizational neutrality with respect to the
substantive disagreements that divide researchers
on questions within, or outside, their fields
of inquiry." Marcus Harvey, Associate Secretary
of the American Association of University Professors,
identified this bill-nearly identical to ones
introduced in Colorado and Georgia-as a dangerous
affront to our principles of academic freedom
and integrity.
At our session voting last Saturday,
two resolutions were introduced in strong opposition
to this proposed legislation; both passed readily
and will soon be on our website for your further
consideration. We urge you to review
the bill and to contact your local legislator
about the concerns such a bill raises within the
academy.
On-Line Voter Registration Project
Some local senates have indicated that their
campus administrators objected to participating
in the statewide, online voter registration
project because of security concerns. In response,
the Board of Executives of California Community
College organization of Chief Information Systems
Officers Association (CISOA) issued a memo
to its members.
Technical Information About Implementing
the Voter Registration Project at Your College
For additional information on how to implement
the Voter Registration Project locally, we provide
this information
guideline.
