College of DuPage Passes Flawed Policies, May Resurrect Academic Bill of Rights

At the College of DuPage Board of Trustees meeting last night, two of the flawed policies under consideration were passed unanimously without any changes, despite the criticisms made of them and the process used to formulate them. The third policy, 15-335, was passed with some changes. But there are warning signs ahead that the president of the College of DuPage plans to push Horowitz's Academic Bill of Rights in the future.

The video is available here.

Nancy Stanko, President of the COD faculty association (30:30 minutes into the video) and Lisa Higgins, Vice President of the faculty association, (33:30) both spoke out against the proposal. Beverly Pearlson (47 min) supported the Academic Bill of Rights. Kory Atkinson (49:30 min) brought giant checks along for show and tell. Mark Thompson (52:45) supported the Academic Bill of Rights and hates Bill Ayers and imagined a vast conspiracy of the AERA to bring “socialist subversion of education.”

Information items for next meeting begin at 1:14:30 in the video. Policy 15-25 is considered at 1:17:45, and passed unanimously with minimal discussion. Policy 15-170 is considered at 1:20:45 and passed unanimously without discussion. Policy 15-335 begins at 1:22:00 and is eventually passed unanimously with revised language. The update wording can be found in the policy manual, (pdf, page 174).

The student trustee expressed her support for student academic rights, and another trustee was concerned about taking out the statement of student academic freedom. President Robert Breuder noted, “We'll deal with that when the big one comes in, the big one being the Academic Bill of Rights” (1:24:00)

So it seems clear that the Academic Bill of Rights is coming back to the College of DuPage, and a fight is needed to stop it.