Legislatures will tackle intellectual diversity again, speaker says

Ashley Lubenkov, field organizer for the Center for Campus Free Speech and the Free Exchange on Campus Coalition came to UM-St. Louis on Friday to discuss issues concerning intellectual diversity.

Lubenkov said there has been some form of an intellectual diversity bill debated in 28 state legislatures. None of them, however, adopted the bill.

"One state launched a study to see if it was an issue," Lubenkov said. "They found that is was not."

A study was run in places of higher education in Pennsylvania to investigate colleges and universities around the state to "ensure that there is an environment conducive to the pursuit of knowledge…and the expression of independent thought," according to a Free Exchange on Campus press release on the study.

The study included nine days of witness accounts that stated "there was no problem to be found in the Pennsylvania schools."

Eighty-six percent of those who testified agreed there was no issue with diversity on campus.

In Georgia, a group of College Republicans held a mock debate on the bill where, upon voting for or against, an outstanding majority found the bill had very little footing in actual events.

"This isn't just a liberal issue. This shows that it affects both sides," Lubenkov said.

Lubenkov said the bill aims to protect the impressionable minds of University students from too many liberal viewpoints by making it mandatory that professors not show bias toward one side of an issue.

"For instance," Lubenkov said, "when talking about global warming, that professor would also be required to speak about the other side of the argument. When talking about slavery that professor would have to address the positives along with the negatives of slavery."

Lubenkov said she believed with the average age of students being 27 at UM-St. Louis that the average student possessed the mental faculties to make their own decisions and not be impressed by the views of their professors.

The "Emily Brooker Intellectual Diversity Act" is based on a student at Missouri State University who may or may not have been forced or unfairly graded on her political or moral views.

In Brooker's case, a waiver had been signed stating the students would not take sides on any subject of an assignment, and that by forcing Brooker to fail the class, the social work program was in the wrong.

After failing the course, Emily Brooker sued Missouri State University.

"I'm not even sure Emily Brooker happened as we have been told," Gerda Ray, professor of history and Amnesty International adviser and member of the Chancellor's Diversity Initiative said. "I've heard more than one conflicting account of the event."

The initiative has currently set up a specific grievance procedure for students who believe their intellectual views are not being treated fairly.

The bill is up for pre-filing starting Monday, Dec. 3, after which Lubenkov's organization will be lobbying against it.

"You can always write your legislators," Lubenkov said of the ways students could actively show support or dissent with the bill.