THE PROGRESS REPORT
by Christy Harvey, Judd Legum and Jonathan Baskin
with Nico Pitney and Mipe Okunseinde
February 16, 2005
HIGHER EDUCATION
Academic Freedom Under Attack
GLOBAL WARMING
Bush's Head in the Sand
UNDER THE RADAR
HIGHER EDUCATION
Academic Freedom Under Attack
Conservatives in the Ohio State Senate are considering a bill that would prohibit public and private college professors from introducing "controversial matter" into the classroom and shift oversight of college course content to state governments and courts. The language of the bill comes from right-wing activist David Horowitz's "Academic Bill of Rights," which recommends states adopt rules to "restrict what university professors could say in their classrooms" and halt liberal "pollution" on campus. The bill is both redundant and misleading – most colleges already have rules ensuring free expression (political and otherwise) and Horowitz and his supporters have been able to offer scant evidence of widespread political bullying. Nevertheless, a variation of the bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and has made inroads in six states. For a chance to fight back against the growing influence of the right wing on campus, and to help strengthen progressive student voices, check out American Progress's brand new website, Campus Progress.
MUMPER'S MOTIVATION: Ohio Senate Bill 24 was introduced late last month by State Sen. Larry Mumper (R), who says it is necessary because "80 percent" of college professors "are Democrats, liberals or socialists or card-carrying Communists" who attempt to indoctrinate students. When asked how he came to his conclusion, Mumper said he had been "investigating the issue for months," but cited just one instance when he had "heard of an Ohio student who said she was discriminated against because she supported Bush for president." He added that "anti-American" professors were a threat to young people and said he didn't think it was right for college campuses to teach students things their parents might disagree with.
OHIO FIGHTS BACK: Last week, the Ohio University student senate passed a resolution against the bill – the latest in a string of college students and administrations to register their opposition. One "senate commissioner" pointed out the college handbook already mandated similar rules and "suggested that the Ohio Senate should be concentrating on more important issues in education" (of which there are many). A political science professor at Ohio-Wesleyan said the law could stifle debate, and Kenyon College President S. Georgia Nugent called Horowitz's thinking "a severe threat" to academic freedom. Two conservative students from Ohio State wrote in an editorial that they did not think "government should…be involved" in policing academic debate. They also pointed out that if Horowitz "were a professor under his own bill, he probably would violate it."
DAVID HOROWITZ, CHAMPION OF OPEN DEBATE: Horowitz, who has been the driving force behind the movement for "academic freedom" in Ohio and other states, has a distinguished history of intellectual defamation, historical inaccuracy and political bullying. He has freely compared American liberals to Islamic terrorists, slandered the Democratic Party and John Kerry for criticizing the war in Iraq and made a habit out of accusing his detractors of racism. Most recently, when African-American historian John Hope Franklin questioned Horowitz's 2001 claim that black people benefited from slavery and owed a "debt" to white America, Horowitz responded by calling the eminent historian "a racial ideologue rather than a historian" and "almost pathological." Horowitz has no academic credentials and routinely distorts facts – exactly the crime he accuses "liberal" professors of committing – to fit his political bias. (Share your thoughts on David Horowitz at ThinkProgress.org)
WHAT LIBERAL CAMPUS?: Horowitz claims his bill is necessary because college campuses are a "hostile environment" for conservatives, but as American Progress's Ben Hubbard and David Halperin point out, "Increasingly, it is the conservative movement that sets the agenda." Over the past 30 years, "the right has built a powerful campus machine. A dozen right-wing institutions now spend $38 million annually pushing their agenda to students. Conservative foundations channel tens of millions more for academic programs" which "buff an intellectual sheen over conservative ideology." Groups like Young America's Foundation, which spent more than $10 million on campuses in 2003, have no progressive counterpart. The ultra-conservative Leadership Institute – boasting prestigious graduates such as disgraced fake White House reporter Jeff Gannon – claims it has trained more than 40,000 college students to become "conservative leaders" since 1979.
THE EMPTY DATABASE: Horowitz's best attempt to prove liberal bias on campus is his "Academic Freedom Abuse Center," housed on the Students for Academic Freedom (SAS) website. But the database, which invites students to report having their "rights abused" in class, only looks impressive until you start reading the actual claims. Some highlights: One student complains because her professor suggested men and women might see colors differently. Another is offended she was asked to watch an "immoral Seinfeld episode." The latest entry in the database as of Tuesday afternoon was from an Ohio State student who claims he got a bad grade on an essay because his English professor "hates families and thinks it's okay to be gay." One of the complaints comes from an Augustana College senior who is upset her school used "funds from Student activity fees to bring in the one-sided speaker David Horowitz."
GLOBAL WARMING
Bush's Head in the Sand
The good news: today the first major international effort to curtail global warming – the Kyoto Protocol – goes into effect. One hundred forty countries have signed and ratified the agreement. The bad news: the United States, which produces about one-quarter of the greenhouse gasses that cause global warming, is on the outside looking in. More bad news: the Kyoto Protocol, especially without the United States's participation, is only a small step in addressing the global warming problem. The accord has the potential to eliminate "only one-tenth of a projected 30 percent rise in worldwide emissions between 1990 and 2010," and expires in 2012. American Progress co-sponsored the International Climate Change Taskforce – co-chaired by Sen. Olympia Snow (R-ME) – which recently issued a report outlining series of concrete, practical steps on how the whole world can move forward.
THE NEED TO ACT: The purpose of the Taskforce recommendations is to prevent global average temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. At that point rising temperatures would pose a severe danger to the world's population. If global warming is not curtailed, expect a rash of droughts, floods, wildfires, severe weather and disease. The recommendations of the Taskforce include: taking greater advantage of existing low and zero-carbon technologies, creating a global emissions trading market and, for G8 countries, producing 25 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2025.
ADMINISTRATION INACTION: In the face of clear danger to the American people, the Bush administration continues to twiddle its thumbs. President Bush – reversing an explicit campaign pledge in 2000 – now vehemently opposes any mandatory limits on carbon dioxide, which causes global warming. In fact, the White House won't even admit there is a problem. Ignoring the overwhelming scientific consensus that "climate change is a serious and growing threat," White House spokesman Scott McClellan defended the administration's inaction yesterday, saying "we are still learning about the science of climate change."
EXCUSES, EXCUSES, EXCUSES: The White House claims its resistance is grounded in a concern for the American economy. James Connaughton, head of the White House Council on Environment Quality, said that President Bush "strongly opposes any treaty or policy that would cost a single American job." (Tough talk from an administration whose first term job record was the worst since Herbert Hoover.) A new report by U.S. PIRG examines the economic impact of two simple policies that would go a long way to curb global warming: requiring the U.S. to generate 20 percent of its electricity from clean energy by the year 2020 and shifting existing fossil fuel subsidies to renewable energy. The study found such policies would: 1) create a net annual average of 154,589 jobs between 2005 and 2020; 2) Increase wages by $6.8 billion in 2020; and 3) Save consumers $16.2 billion on electricity bills in 2020. So if it isn't jobs, what is the reason the administration opposes serious attempts to curb global warming? One explanation: the administration allows corporate lobbyists representing America's biggest polluters to write our environmental laws.
Under the Radar
PLAMEGATE – TALK UP OR LOCK-UP: Two reporters suspected of having been leaked the name of a covert CIA officer by vindictive Bush administration officials have for months refused to discuss the case before a grand jury. Now they're being ordered to spill the beans or face up to 18 months in prison by a federal appeals court. The reporters, Judith Miller of the New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine, have fiercely resisted divulging their sources on free speech grounds, arguing the precedent would dry up reporters' access to sources and erode freedom of the press. Notably, neither the Bush administration leak (who likely violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act) nor serial bloviator Bob Novak, the only reporter who actually made public the leaked information, have been threatened with prison time. Indeed, Novak has refused to speak about his sources while hypocritically calling for others to do so.
ADMINISTRATION – PUTTING IDEOLOGY BEFORE SUICIDE PREVENTION: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, essentially forced the deletion of the words "gay," "lesbian," "bisexual" and "transgender" from the title of an upcoming suicide prevention workshop, even though it was meant to address those particular at-risk populations, at a federally funded conference. Wielding its funding power much in the same manner as Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, the administration requested the removal of those words as well as an additional workshop "session on faith-based suicide prevention." SAMHSA has defended its actions by claiming a preference for the "inclusive" term "sexual orientation," but as one of the three outraged workshop presenters explained, "Everyone has a sexual orientation. But this was about gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders," who are at two to three times higher risk of attempting suicide.
MEDIA – PROBING GANNON'S WHITE HOUSE TIES: Roll Call reports that Reps. John Conyers (D-MI) and Louise Slaughter (D-NY) have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to determine how scandal-plagued right-wing "reporter" Jeff Gannon was cleared to cover White House news conferences while using a pseudonym. Gannon, whose real name is J.D. Guckert, is also wrapped up in the Valerie Plame leak story, according to the Washington Post. In 2003, Gannon discussed having access to "an internal government memo prepared by U.S. intelligence personnel [detailing] a meeting in early 2002" that mentioned then-clandestine CIA official Valerie Plame. House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) "has asked the special prosecutor investigating the Plame leak to include Gannon in his probe," Howard Kurtz reports.
with Nico Pitney and Mipe Okunseinde
February 16, 2005
HIGHER EDUCATION
Academic Freedom Under Attack
GLOBAL WARMING
Bush's Head in the Sand
UNDER THE RADAR
HIGHER EDUCATION
Academic Freedom Under Attack
Conservatives in the Ohio State Senate are considering a bill that would prohibit public and private college professors from introducing "controversial matter" into the classroom and shift oversight of college course content to state governments and courts. The language of the bill comes from right-wing activist David Horowitz's "Academic Bill of Rights," which recommends states adopt rules to "restrict what university professors could say in their classrooms" and halt liberal "pollution" on campus. The bill is both redundant and misleading – most colleges already have rules ensuring free expression (political and otherwise) and Horowitz and his supporters have been able to offer scant evidence of widespread political bullying. Nevertheless, a variation of the bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and has made inroads in six states. For a chance to fight back against the growing influence of the right wing on campus, and to help strengthen progressive student voices, check out American Progress's brand new website, Campus Progress.
MUMPER'S MOTIVATION: Ohio Senate Bill 24 was introduced late last month by State Sen. Larry Mumper (R), who says it is necessary because "80 percent" of college professors "are Democrats, liberals or socialists or card-carrying Communists" who attempt to indoctrinate students. When asked how he came to his conclusion, Mumper said he had been "investigating the issue for months," but cited just one instance when he had "heard of an Ohio student who said she was discriminated against because she supported Bush for president." He added that "anti-American" professors were a threat to young people and said he didn't think it was right for college campuses to teach students things their parents might disagree with.
OHIO FIGHTS BACK: Last week, the Ohio University student senate passed a resolution against the bill – the latest in a string of college students and administrations to register their opposition. One "senate commissioner" pointed out the college handbook already mandated similar rules and "suggested that the Ohio Senate should be concentrating on more important issues in education" (of which there are many). A political science professor at Ohio-Wesleyan said the law could stifle debate, and Kenyon College President S. Georgia Nugent called Horowitz's thinking "a severe threat" to academic freedom. Two conservative students from Ohio State wrote in an editorial that they did not think "government should…be involved" in policing academic debate. They also pointed out that if Horowitz "were a professor under his own bill, he probably would violate it."
DAVID HOROWITZ, CHAMPION OF OPEN DEBATE: Horowitz, who has been the driving force behind the movement for "academic freedom" in Ohio and other states, has a distinguished history of intellectual defamation, historical inaccuracy and political bullying. He has freely compared American liberals to Islamic terrorists, slandered the Democratic Party and John Kerry for criticizing the war in Iraq and made a habit out of accusing his detractors of racism. Most recently, when African-American historian John Hope Franklin questioned Horowitz's 2001 claim that black people benefited from slavery and owed a "debt" to white America, Horowitz responded by calling the eminent historian "a racial ideologue rather than a historian" and "almost pathological." Horowitz has no academic credentials and routinely distorts facts – exactly the crime he accuses "liberal" professors of committing – to fit his political bias. (Share your thoughts on David Horowitz at ThinkProgress.org)
WHAT LIBERAL CAMPUS?: Horowitz claims his bill is necessary because college campuses are a "hostile environment" for conservatives, but as American Progress's Ben Hubbard and David Halperin point out, "Increasingly, it is the conservative movement that sets the agenda." Over the past 30 years, "the right has built a powerful campus machine. A dozen right-wing institutions now spend $38 million annually pushing their agenda to students. Conservative foundations channel tens of millions more for academic programs" which "buff an intellectual sheen over conservative ideology." Groups like Young America's Foundation, which spent more than $10 million on campuses in 2003, have no progressive counterpart. The ultra-conservative Leadership Institute – boasting prestigious graduates such as disgraced fake White House reporter Jeff Gannon – claims it has trained more than 40,000 college students to become "conservative leaders" since 1979.
THE EMPTY DATABASE: Horowitz's best attempt to prove liberal bias on campus is his "Academic Freedom Abuse Center," housed on the Students for Academic Freedom (SAS) website. But the database, which invites students to report having their "rights abused" in class, only looks impressive until you start reading the actual claims. Some highlights: One student complains because her professor suggested men and women might see colors differently. Another is offended she was asked to watch an "immoral Seinfeld episode." The latest entry in the database as of Tuesday afternoon was from an Ohio State student who claims he got a bad grade on an essay because his English professor "hates families and thinks it's okay to be gay." One of the complaints comes from an Augustana College senior who is upset her school used "funds from Student activity fees to bring in the one-sided speaker David Horowitz."
GLOBAL WARMING
Bush's Head in the Sand
The good news: today the first major international effort to curtail global warming – the Kyoto Protocol – goes into effect. One hundred forty countries have signed and ratified the agreement. The bad news: the United States, which produces about one-quarter of the greenhouse gasses that cause global warming, is on the outside looking in. More bad news: the Kyoto Protocol, especially without the United States's participation, is only a small step in addressing the global warming problem. The accord has the potential to eliminate "only one-tenth of a projected 30 percent rise in worldwide emissions between 1990 and 2010," and expires in 2012. American Progress co-sponsored the International Climate Change Taskforce – co-chaired by Sen. Olympia Snow (R-ME) – which recently issued a report outlining series of concrete, practical steps on how the whole world can move forward.
THE NEED TO ACT: The purpose of the Taskforce recommendations is to prevent global average temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. At that point rising temperatures would pose a severe danger to the world's population. If global warming is not curtailed, expect a rash of droughts, floods, wildfires, severe weather and disease. The recommendations of the Taskforce include: taking greater advantage of existing low and zero-carbon technologies, creating a global emissions trading market and, for G8 countries, producing 25 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2025.
ADMINISTRATION INACTION: In the face of clear danger to the American people, the Bush administration continues to twiddle its thumbs. President Bush – reversing an explicit campaign pledge in 2000 – now vehemently opposes any mandatory limits on carbon dioxide, which causes global warming. In fact, the White House won't even admit there is a problem. Ignoring the overwhelming scientific consensus that "climate change is a serious and growing threat," White House spokesman Scott McClellan defended the administration's inaction yesterday, saying "we are still learning about the science of climate change."
EXCUSES, EXCUSES, EXCUSES: The White House claims its resistance is grounded in a concern for the American economy. James Connaughton, head of the White House Council on Environment Quality, said that President Bush "strongly opposes any treaty or policy that would cost a single American job." (Tough talk from an administration whose first term job record was the worst since Herbert Hoover.) A new report by U.S. PIRG examines the economic impact of two simple policies that would go a long way to curb global warming: requiring the U.S. to generate 20 percent of its electricity from clean energy by the year 2020 and shifting existing fossil fuel subsidies to renewable energy. The study found such policies would: 1) create a net annual average of 154,589 jobs between 2005 and 2020; 2) Increase wages by $6.8 billion in 2020; and 3) Save consumers $16.2 billion on electricity bills in 2020. So if it isn't jobs, what is the reason the administration opposes serious attempts to curb global warming? One explanation: the administration allows corporate lobbyists representing America's biggest polluters to write our environmental laws.
Under the Radar
PLAMEGATE – TALK UP OR LOCK-UP: Two reporters suspected of having been leaked the name of a covert CIA officer by vindictive Bush administration officials have for months refused to discuss the case before a grand jury. Now they're being ordered to spill the beans or face up to 18 months in prison by a federal appeals court. The reporters, Judith Miller of the New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine, have fiercely resisted divulging their sources on free speech grounds, arguing the precedent would dry up reporters' access to sources and erode freedom of the press. Notably, neither the Bush administration leak (who likely violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act) nor serial bloviator Bob Novak, the only reporter who actually made public the leaked information, have been threatened with prison time. Indeed, Novak has refused to speak about his sources while hypocritically calling for others to do so.
ADMINISTRATION – PUTTING IDEOLOGY BEFORE SUICIDE PREVENTION: The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, essentially forced the deletion of the words "gay," "lesbian," "bisexual" and "transgender" from the title of an upcoming suicide prevention workshop, even though it was meant to address those particular at-risk populations, at a federally funded conference. Wielding its funding power much in the same manner as Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, the administration requested the removal of those words as well as an additional workshop "session on faith-based suicide prevention." SAMHSA has defended its actions by claiming a preference for the "inclusive" term "sexual orientation," but as one of the three outraged workshop presenters explained, "Everyone has a sexual orientation. But this was about gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders," who are at two to three times higher risk of attempting suicide.
MEDIA – PROBING GANNON'S WHITE HOUSE TIES: Roll Call reports that Reps. John Conyers (D-MI) and Louise Slaughter (D-NY) have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to determine how scandal-plagued right-wing "reporter" Jeff Gannon was cleared to cover White House news conferences while using a pseudonym. Gannon, whose real name is J.D. Guckert, is also wrapped up in the Valerie Plame leak story, according to the Washington Post. In 2003, Gannon discussed having access to "an internal government memo prepared by U.S. intelligence personnel [detailing] a meeting in early 2002" that mentioned then-clandestine CIA official Valerie Plame. House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) "has asked the special prosecutor investigating the Plame leak to include Gannon in his probe," Howard Kurtz reports.
posted by T. Scott Brineman at 7:19 AM
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