what kind of intervention are we talking about? will it be analogous to, say, the application of federal anti-discrimination laws to campuses? that's been problematic on occasion, but on the whole i think it's worked out alright.
sure, these people may think there's liberal bias at the universities, but that doesn't exclude the possibility that they're right on this issue (it doesn't exclude the possibility that they're right about liberal bias either, although even if they are, i suspect their big-picture cure is worse than the disease). the fact that somebody can spin protecting people's rights to assembly and speech as related to an entirely reprehensible proposal for content standards (which i'll admit is a risk) doesn't mean we shouldn't stop standing for people's rights - it means that we should try to promote public awareness an alternative picture that clearly separates these issues. people are being rather unwholesomely silenced at real universities right now, and, although i'm always nervous about federal intervention, it doesn't strike me as a terrible idea to set federal standards on, say, school disciplinary processes to try to discourage this kind of thing.
of course, i haven't read the rider. based on the name, it could be anywhere between completely reasonable and beyond absurd.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2007-11-14 06:30 pm (UTC)sure, these people may think there's liberal bias at the universities, but that doesn't exclude the possibility that they're right on this issue (it doesn't exclude the possibility that they're right about liberal bias either, although even if they are, i suspect their big-picture cure is worse than the disease). the fact that somebody can spin protecting people's rights to assembly and speech as related to an entirely reprehensible proposal for content standards (which i'll admit is a risk) doesn't mean we shouldn't stop standing for people's rights - it means that we should try to promote public awareness an alternative picture that clearly separates these issues. people are being rather unwholesomely silenced at real universities right now, and, although i'm always nervous about federal intervention, it doesn't strike me as a terrible idea to set federal standards on, say, school disciplinary processes to try to discourage this kind of thing.
of course, i haven't read the rider. based on the name, it could be anywhere between completely reasonable and beyond absurd.