Bleeding Kansas: Academic Freedom in the Free State

December 28th, 2013

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

Kansas famously fought for the right to enter the Union as a free state. And to this day, Kansas calls itself the Free State—a fact that makes any assault on privacy and free speech uncommonly ironic.

(Full disclosure: this writer taught a course at the University of Kansas in Lawrence from 2007-2010.)

Background

The Kansas Board of Regent sets policy for the University of Kansas, Kansas State University, the five other public universities and 26 community colleges and technical schools. The Board of Regents is comprised of nine members appointed by the Governor of Kansas, currently an anti-abortion, right-wing Republican former U.S. senator named Sam Brownback.*

Kansas City Star: “And faculty are increasingly voicing their opposition to the policy, most recently Monday when 40 distinguished professors at Kansas State University called for the policy to be repealed.” According to the newspaper account, what prompted the policy was a University of Kansas journalism professor’s Tweet “wishing violence against the families of National Rifle Association members following a mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard.”

One KU professor, who asked to remain anonymous, said, “It was a stupid Tweet, but that’s no reason to throw the Constitution out the window. If ignorance and stupidity were legal grounds to suspend the right of free speech… I think it’s plain to see where this line of reasoning would take us as a nation.” Another commented, “I don’t want to teach or live in a place where censors decide who can say or write what, when and where. Any redneck radio station carrying Rush Limbaugh’s daily rants would be fined or taken off the air. Fox News would be shut down. Michelle Bachmann, Todd Akins, and many other ‘distinguished’ member of Congress would be doing hard time.”

The Policy

Here is the new policy relating to disciplinary actions against faculty and staff for all public institutions of higher education in the Free State:

The chief executive officer of a state university has the authority to suspend, dismiss or terminate from employment any faculty or staff member who makes improper use of social media. “Social media” means any facility for online publication and commentary, including but not limited to blogs, wikis, and social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube. “Improper use of social media” means making a communication through social media that:

i. directly incites violence or other immediate breach of the peace;

ii. when made pursuant to (i.e. in furtherance of) the employee’s official duties, is contrary to the best interest of the university;

iii. discloses without authority any confidential student information, protected health care information, personnel records, personal financial information, or confidential research data; or

iv. subject to the balancing analysis required by the following paragraph, impairs discipline by superiors or harmony among co-workers, has a detrimental impact on close working relationships for which personal loyalty and confidence are necessary, impedes the performance of the speaker’s official duties, interferes with the regular operation of the university, or otherwise adversely affects the university’s ability to efficiently provide services.

In determining whether the employee’s communication constitutes an improper use of social media under paragraph (iv), the chief executive officer shall balance the interest of the university in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its emplyees against the employee’s right as a citizen to speak on matters of public concern, and may consider the employee’s position within the university and whether the employee used or publicized the university name, brands, website, official title or school/department/college or otherwise created the appearance of the communication being endorsed, approved or connected to the university in a manner that discredits the university. The chief executive officer may also consider whether the communication was made during the employee’s working hours or the communication was transmitted utilizing university systems or equipment. This policy on improper use of social media shall apply prospectively from its date of adoption by the Kansas Board of Regents.

Comment

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has roundly condemned this policy: “As a gross violation of the fundamental principles of academic freedom that have been a cornerstone of American higher education for nearly a century.” The AAUP notes, “Not only faculty, but students and the general public benefit from the free exchange of information and ideas that are at the heart of the academic enterprise, whether conducted orally, in print, or electronically” and calls for the Regents “to revisit this decision, to repeal this ill-advised policy and to work with elected faculty representatives to develop a social media policy that protects both the legitimate interest of the university in security and efficiency as well as the paramount interest of faculty and students in the unfettered exchange of ideas and information.”

The Kansas AAUP also issued a statement saying it “finds that this policy is a direct affront to faculty members’ rights to academic freedom and freedom of speech as assured in Regents Policies [and] undermines the fundamental principles of academic tenure and due process.”

When shown this document, one lifelong Kansas resident and KU graduate asked the writer whether any other universities in the country were facing similar challenges to academic freedom.

Good question.

* Recall that Governor Brownback is the same Brownback who, as Senator Brownback, ran for president in 2007; in the first presidential debate that year, when the candidates were asked to raised their hands if they did not believe in evolution, Brownback raised his. He later published an op-ed in the New York Times attempting to clarify his position in a failed bid to rescue his candidacy.

Source Article from http://www.nationofchange.org/bleeding-kansas-academic-freedom-free-state-1388155776