Whereas, A variety of proposals to impose greater "intellectual diversity" in higher education have circulated throughout state and federation legislatures; and

Whereas, The cornerstone of these proposals has been a call for the implementation, either by institutions of higher education or by state or federal legislation, of what its proponents call an "Academic Bill of Rights" or nearly identical "Student Bill of Rights"; and

Whereas, Proponents of these measures have made clear through their writings and public testimony that the true purpose is to end the supposed monopoly of left-wing faculty and administrators over curriculum and teaching; and

Whereas, Proponents of these measures have offered policy solutions to the "problem" of left-wing domination of the academy such as the following:

Whereas, Hiring academic professionals on the basis of their ideology, rather than strictly on the basis of their teaching aptitude and scholarship, is damaging to the fundamental concept of a college/university in our society as well as to all established academic practices; and

Whereas, Political control and/or interference in scholarship and teaching are totally incompatible with the maintenance and development of a free, democratic society; and

Whereas, The passage of legislation to impose such requirements, even when its provisions are not made mandatory, would be an invitation to tie up institutions of higher education in endless rounds of public hearings and litigation, in which non-academics would decide whether enough balance had been achieved in the reading list of a particular course or whether sufficient numbers of persons had been hired or asked to be speakers based upon their left-wing or right-wing ideologies. NOW THEREFORE BE IT

RESOLVED: That AFT Michigan oppose the imposition of so-called "intellectual diversity" requirements on colleges/universities as an unacceptable infringement of academic freedom and an unwarranted intervention of persons who are not academic professionals into academic decision making; and BE IT FINALLY

RESOLVED: That AFT Michigan work vigorously with like-minded individuals and organizations, including other national faculty organizations, to ensure that these proposals are not imposed as academic or legislative policy, from within or outside institutions of higher education.