(from Forbes):
By Thomas K. Lindsay
By now, everyone who’s been watching higher education knows that a growing number of American universities have jettisoned objective scholarship, open debate, and free speech in favor of advancing a left-wing political agenda. Having thrust themselves into the political fray, some of these schools may now begin paying the price for turning their institutions into ideological boot camps.
Last week, the Wisconsin state assembly stepped up to defend free speech at its state colleges and universities. Its “Campus Free Speech Act” calls for the suspension or even expulsion of students who disrupt approved campus speakers. Passed 61-36 in the Assembly, it now goes to the state senate.
Wisconsin’s governor, Scott Walker, has long labored to reform the Badger State’s higher education institutions, as I commented on here. Wisconsin’s colleges and universities, like many across the country, suffer a twofold crisis: (1) tuition hyperinflation (which fuels the student-loan debt crisis), and (2) poor student learning. Having addressed university finances over the past few years, Walker can now be expected to sign this bill if it makes it through the state senate. This would go no small distance toward restoring free speech on campus, and with it, the conditions of genuine learning. In the process, Wisconsin could come to serve as a model for the nation. CONTINUE READING HERE