Kiss your academic freedom goodbye

Clearly, the rightwing is gearing up to take on the last bastion of free range liberalism: colleges and universities. Ohio is moving ahead with an Orwellian-named Academic Bill of Rights. Effing-wonderful. The latest cause celebre re: Ward Churchill is a clear ploy to stoke the base, rouse the rabble, smear the universities. Looks like they're going for a multi-pronged attack. In the Ohio case, they'll go after the public university systems first in the name of "fairness and balance." At Marquette, the College Republicans are demanding a refund of tuition because the university made them take down a sign or something. So they'll try to drain the funds away from the private colleges. I imagine they'll also wield inside-government power via the withholding of student loan guarantees and grants for those colleges unwilling to adopt "academic bills of rights." There's always Fox News to bash universities mercilessly. This will chill the waters, stifle dissent, and encourage self-censorship. Since I work in higher-ed, I'll try to record the chilling effect as it unfolds. The full court pressure is on.