David Horowitz to Testify On Behalf of Senate Bill 24

Take action by   Tuesday, March 8, 2005

David Horowitz, the radical conservative behind Sen. Larry Mumper's (R-Marion) so-called Academic Bill of Rights will testify in front of the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday, March 8th at 4PM. All opponents of this bill are encouraged to attend - the meeting is open to the public. Mumper's bill is a cut-and-paste version of a bill that Horowitz is traveling across the country, trying to promote. Horowitz's group has had success in other states - we can't let the radical right push their dangerous agenda in Ohio's public and private colleges and universities. Please attend the hearing, held at the Ohio Statehouse at 4PM on Tuesday, March 8th as a show of opposition to this bill. More on David Horowitz and Larry Mumper below: Horowitz operates the websites studentsforacademicfreedom.org and discoverthenetwork.org. On the latter site Horowitz claims that the former Mayor of Cleveland and current United States Congressman Dennis Kucinich is an "anti-American Radical." In a recent Columbus Dispatch interview Sen. Mumper was quoted as saying, “80 percent or so of them (professors) are Democrats, liberals or socialists or card-carrying Communists.” He believes that college students “haven’t had the chance to form their own opinions” and therefore, are being brainwashed at “colleges and universities still filled with some of the ‘60s and ‘70s profs that were the anti-American group.” If Sen. Mumper’s words are not chilling enough, the text of the bill is even worse. In the proposed legislation, Mumper demands, “Faculty and instructors shall not infringe the academic freedom and quality of education of their students by persistently introducing controversial matter into the classroom or coursework that has no relation to their subject of study and that serves no legitimate pedagogical purpose.” Who is to decide what constitutes controversial matter? Sen. Mumper himself? The Ohio Senate? Furthermore, the bill goes on to say, “Faculty…shall make their students aware of serious scholarly viewpoints other than their own through classroom discussion or dissemination of written materials.” Under this proposed legislation, would a professor teaching a course on Darwin be required to make their students aware of Creationism and bring it in for a “serious” discussion? Thankfully Sen. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo), a former public school teacher, is taking the lead in the fight against this dangerous bill to make sure power stays in the hands of educators and not with right-wing reactionaries. She is seeking the backing of Ohio’s educators in an effort to make sure this bill does not become law. She has encouraged all that oppose this bill to attend the open hearing on Tuesday, March 8th at 4PM.