Wisconsin speech bill might allow students to challenge science professors

Enlarge / Bills sponsors Robin Vos (left) and Jesse Kremer (right) discuss it at a hearing. (credit: WisconsinEye)

There have been some well-publicized incidents in which student groups or other protesters have interfered with scheduled appearances by right-wing speakers at US universities. In response, a number of states have considered “campus free speech” bills, based on model legislation produced by the Goldwater Institute, a conservative thinktank. Different bills introduce specific penalties for students who shout down the speech of others and prevent college administrators from disinviting speakers, to give two examples.

One such bill is being debated in Wisconsin. Here, faculty and university officials are concerned about what else might be prevented by its overly vague language, according to the local Cap Times. As often happens with bills relevant to science education, the debate has also elicited some rather bizarre comments from the bill’s sponsors.

The trouble comes from this section of the bill: “That each institution shall strive to remain neutral, as an institution, on the public policy controversies of the day, and may not take action, as an institution, on the public policy controversies of the day in such a way as to require students or faculty to publicly express a given view of social policy.”