FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Anne D. Neal,
202-467-6787
LEGISLATION REQUIRES COLLEGES
TO FILE ANNUAL REPORTS ON INTELLECTUAL
DIVERSITY
Universities Must Outline Steps Taken
to Ensure
Free Exchange of Ideas
Washington, DC (January 26, 2006)—A bill has been introduced in South Dakota which will
require higher education institutions to report annually on concrete steps
taken to ensure the free exchange of ideas on their campuses.
House Bill 1222 was filed by Rep. Phyllis M. Heineman, chairman of the South Dakota House Committee on
Education, mandating that the South Dakota Board of Regents require
institutions they govern to report on specific steps taken “to ensure and
promote intellectual diversity and academic freedom.” The bill suggests a variety of measures
institutions can take, but leaves the contents of the report—which will be made
public—up to each reporting institution.
More than thirty legislators have
co-sponsored the bill, including both Democrats and Republicans.
The bill comes in the wake of a national
initiative, launched by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, to ensure
the free exchange of ideas on college and university campuses. In a report released last month, Intellectual Diversity: Time for Action,
ACTA outlined steps universities could take to encourage a mix of ideas on
campus and to respond to the growing public concern about the lack of
intellectual diversity.
“As legislators we have many
good reasons to request a report that assures taxpayers, parents, students and
faculty that
“This has become a nationwide
topic with some troublesome situations in some campuses across the
country. Reacting to this growing
concern, the American Council on Education, in which virtually all of our
Rep. Gerald Lange (D-Dist. 8), who co-sponsored the
bill, believes that providing an open forum for diverse points of view is
rooted in the Bill of Rights itself.
“It's a no brainer,” said the retired professor. “It's in the Constitution.”
“Intellectual diversity and
the opportunity to be exposed to a full range of ideas and philosophies is the
heart and soul of a college education,” said co-sponsor Senator Lee Schoenbeck (R-Dist. 5). “College is about learning and maturing and
developing through exposure to all of the ideas that unite and divide us as a
society. This legislation is about
self-examination by the system to ensure that no part of the college experience
is lost to our students.”
Ryan Brunner, President,
South Dakota State University Students’ Association, welcomed the proposed
legislation. “Intellectual diversity
promotes critical thinking that is an integral part of a college
education. A report on intellectual
diversity at universities would help identify areas of improvement, as well as
praise the steps the Board of Regents has already taken.
“The legislators deserve our
praise for emphasizing the importance of intellectual diversity and doing so in
a way that is sensitive to the concerns of the academy,” said ACTA president
Anne D. Neal. “By giving a mandate to
the board of trustees who already are legally responsible, the legislature has
properly placed the burden on the institutions themselves, rather than
inserting itself in an inappropriate way.”
The American Council of
Trustees and Alumni is a national education nonprofit dedicated to academic
freedom, academic excellence, and accountability. A copy of ACTA’s
report, Intellectual Diversity: Time for
Action, is available on the ACTA website, www.goacta.org.
To contact:
Anne Neal, ACTA, 202-467-6787
Rep. Phyllis Heineman, rep.heineman@state.sd.us
Ryan Brunner,