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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Missouri legislature attacks academic freedom -- your urgent response requested |
Current rating: 2 |
by Education for Democracy Network
Email: brodskyd (nospam) earthlink.net (unverified!) |
08 Apr 2002
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Academic Freedom Under Attack in a Neighboring State |
Education for Democracy Network news, April 7, 2002
Academic Freedom under Attack in Missouri Legislature
Please contact officials listed below
1. BACKGROUND
2. RESOLUTION BY AAUP CHAPTER at UMKC
3. RESOLUTION BY UMKC FACULTY SENATE
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1. BACKGROUND
The Missouri House of Representatives, in an overwhelming bipartisan vote, has made additional cuts to the already slashed University of Missouri budget, affirming the displeasure of right-wing elected officials with a faculty member at UMKC. The call for the professor's dismissal was not included in the draft of the budget bill that was passed by the House. But this kind of scapegoating is reminiscent of the campaign against Sami Al-Arian, a tenured Professor fired last fall from the University of South Florida.
At its April 3 session the Missouri House of Representatives focused its discussion on two faculty members and on the manager of a University-affiliated TV station who had incurred their disapproval at three University of Missouri campuses. One of these--Harris Mirkin, Professor of Political Science at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, secretary of the Faculty Senate, and an AAUP member--was singled out for condemnation. Mirkin's studies of child pornography and pedophilia question some basic assumptions about these issues. But certain House members insisted that such topics should not be discussed, even in academic journals, implied that Dr. Mirkin advocates pedophilia, regarded his views as "repugnant" (Rep. Don Lograsso), and called for his dismissal.
In the vote that followed this discussion, the House voted 102-29 to cut a total of $720,000 from an already skeletal University System budget, with $100,000 of that supposedly representing Mirkin's salary at UMKC. In fact, he makes 2/3 that amount (salaries of state employees are public), and state appropriations account for only 50% of the university budget. Thus the penalty is three times the size of state funding for his position.
We are asking you to respond by protesting the actions of the Missouri House, particularly its linkage of censorship and punitive budget decisions, and writing in support of Professor Mirkin's academic freedom and freedom of speech. Please make your views known to as many of the following persons as possible.
Professor Mirkin has indicated that the UMKC administration has given assurances that it has no plans for reprisals against him on account of the House actions. A large outpouring of support for Professor Mirkin and academic freedom will help reinforce this decision.
UMKC Chancellor Martha Gilliland
(GillilandM (at) umkc.edu; TEL: 816-235-1101)
UMKC Provost Stephen Ballard
(ballards (at) umkc.edu; TEL: 816- 235-1107)
University of Missouri President Manuel Pacheco
(pachecoM (at) umsystem.edu; FAX: 573-882-2721)
Board of Curators
University of Missouri
316 University Hall
Columbia, MO 65211
Governor Bob Holden
(FAX: 573-751-1495; TEL: 573-751-3222)
Senator Peter Kinder, President Pro Tem of the Missouri Senate
(FAX: 573-751-2902; TEL: 573-751-2455)
Representative Jim Kreider, Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives (jkreider (at) services.state.mo.us FAX: 573-526-0507)
Please send a copy of your letters to the Education for Democracy Network list manager (brodskyd (at) earthlink.net)
Thank you for your support.
David Brodsky
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2. RESOLUTION BY AAUP CHAPTER at UMKC
The official handbook of the American Association of University Professors, "Policy Documents and Reports" (1995 edition) states: "Freedom of thought and expression is essential to any institution of higher learning. Universities and colleges exist not only to transmit knowledge. Equally, they interpret, explore and expand that knowledge by testing the old and proposing the new... Views will be expressed that may seem to many wrong, distasteful, or offensive. Such is the nature of freedom to sift and winnow ideas" (p.37). A University professor also possesses the right to freedom of speech as provided under the First Amendment.
We, the members of the AAUP Chapter of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, protest in the strongest possible terms public statements by certain members of the Missouri House of Representatives which attempt to censor and intimidate Professor Harris Mirkin, and the punitive vote by the House based on these statements severely reducing funding to the University. Such actions constitute a reprehensible attack on the principles of academic freedom, freedom of speech, and the integrity and probity of university faculty. They affect not only Professor Mirkin but all his colleagues at UMKC and all faculty in the University of Missouri system, at other Missouri schools, and throughout the U.S.
We urge that all those whose responsibility it is to protect academic freedom and freedom of speech, including Chancellor Gilliland, the Curators of the UM system, President Pacheco, and elected officials in and from the state of Missouri, join us by issuing strong public statements in defense of these principles.
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3. RESOLUTION BY UMKC FACULTY SENATE
The UMKC Faculty Senate met in an emergency session Thursday, April 4, and unanimously adopted the following resolution:
We, the Faculty Senate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, deplore the attempt of the Missouri House of Representatives to reduce funding to the University because of articles authored by Professor Harris Mirkin. Open and free exchange of ideas, even controversial ones, is a fundamental tenet of all universities. Affirming this principle, the University of Missouri Board of Curators has stated in its Collected Rules and Regulations (310.010): Institutions of higher education are established and maintained for the common good, which depends upon the free search for truth and its free expression. Academic freedom is essential for these purposes and applies to both teaching and research. Freedom in research is fundamental to the advancement of truth. The same themes are reflected in UMKC's core values which "encourage free, honest and candid communication" and "foster academic and intellectual freedom." We strongly support Professor Mirkin's right as a scholar to express his views and find reprehensible the attempt by the Missouri House of Representatives to stifle academic freedom.
Kathleen Schweitzberger
Chair, UMKC Faculty Senate
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