Greetings,

 The New York State Senate Committee on Higher Education is considering Bill S6336 -- the so-called "Academic Bill of Rights" -- legislation that may have the effect of fundamentally alertering the student-teacher relationship.   

Subject: S6336 Must Not Pass!

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

As a proud member of CUNY's faculty, perhaps the greatest satisfaction I get from my career is the open exchange of ideas and dialogue with students. I can't imagine an environment that impedes the ability of students and faculty to interact freely and openly, yet that is what S6336 will do. If enacted, the so-called "Academic Bill of Rights" introduced by Senator DeFrancisco, may have the effect of fundamentally altering the relationship I have with my students.

Bill S6336 is part of a larger, national campaign to interfere with shared governance in academe by inappropriately instituting outside oversight supposedly in the name of academic freedom, but in fact likely to create a less diverse learning environment, critical to the educational process. I am confident you and members of the Senate Higher Education Committee will find it deeply flawed in the same way as similar legislative attempts in 18 other states, which have failed. As one legislator in Pennsylvania noted, the bill is a solution when there is no problem.

I urge you and members of the Senate Committee on Higher Education to enthusiastically be the 19th state in the nation to categorically reject S6336. A reliable gauge of the merits of the issue is its failure to pass in far more conservative states than New York. Bill S6336 amounts to nothing more than an "academic bill of wrongs" that has no place in higher education and especially in public higher education.

In the academy, appointment, promotion and tenure are not routine. In each case, faculty committees make recommendations to the administration after considering the expertise, scholarly achievement, teaching ability and candidates contribution to the department. That is the way it has been and the way it should remain. Political ideology should not be a criterion for hiring or promotion.

I hope you do the right thing by hundreds of thousands of New York faculty and students and do not allow Bill S6336 to be voted out of committee.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

cc:
Your Assemblyperson (if you live in New York)