“Intellectual Diversity” Legislation Defeated

By Nicole M. Byrd

The Virginia AAUP conference once again helped defeat “intellectual diversity” legislation this year. The legislation passed out of the Virginia House of Delegates but, thanks to intensive lobbying efforts, did not make it out of committee in the senate. The sponsor withdrew the bill upon realizing that he could not get enough votes to bring the bill to the senate floor. In the last legislative session, the Virginia conference and its partners in the higher education community defeated similar legislation within a few weeks of its introduction.

Intellectual diversity legislation, which has now been introduced in eleven states, is backed and typically drafted by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni and closely resembles “academic bill of rights” legislation pushed by conservative activist David Horowitz. The AAUP and other groups have criticized the legislation for its simplistic focus on ideological “balance,” which would undermine academic freedom by opening the way for increased scrutiny of professors’ political views and interference by legislators in the content of academic programs.

So far in 2008, intellectual diversity legislation has died or been withdrawn in Indiana and Washington in addition to Virginia. An intellectual diversity bill in Colorado has been tabled indefinitely.

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