Academic Freedom Upheld

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Luke Haverland (luke.haverland@maryvillecollege.edu)
April 27, 2005

(Maryville, TN)--Last Thursday, April 21, 2005, the Maryville College Student Government Association passed a resolution displaying the student body’s opposition to the ‘Academic Bill of Restrictions’ filed as Tennessee House Bill 432 and Senate Bill 1117. In a decisive showing of commitment to unrestricted scholarship, Maryville College student representatives defended the academic freedom of every collegiate learner in Tennessee.

“Any action that infringes upon the freedom of students to learn without censorship is a threat to any institution of higher learning,” said Heather Graves, Senator of the Maryville College SGA and author of the resolution opposing Senator Finney’s bill. “As a liberal arts college, I feel that protecting these freedoms is of the utmost importance to Maryville College.”

Located in the foothills of Appalachia in Blount County, Tennessee, Maryville College is a private, four-year undergraduate institution where academic excellence is of high priority to students, faculty, and staff. Many students are registered voters under the constituency of Senator Raymond Finney, author of the bill that threatens the quality of Tennessee’s collegiate education. As shown by their opposition to Tennessee House Bill 432 and Senate Bill 1117, Maryville College students understand the far-reaching negative effects of a bill “based on political strategy, not a devotion to academic freedom.”

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Resolution to Protect Academic Freedom
Passed by the Student Government Association of Maryville College
April 21, 2005

WHEREAS, the Academic Bill of Restrictions is based on political strategy, not a devotion to academic freedom;

WHEREAS, the best way to protect free speech and academic freedom is not to restrict free speech and academic freedom;

WHEREAS, real academic freedom comes from a classroom free of restrictions;

WHEREAS, good faculty members ought to be judged on whether their scholarship is strong under the standards of their academic discipline and whether they are good teachers – not on whether the views they express or include meet specific guidelines established by state legislatures;

WHEREAS, passage of the Academic Bill of Restrictions would force professors to favor political sensitivity over rigorous scholarship;

WHEREAS, our campus community strives to create a climate that maximizes each individual's ability to receive a quality education, which requires an institution in which diversity is embraced, valued, and celebrated;

WHEREAS, Maryville College currently has an institutional grievance procedure;

LET IT BE RESOLVED that we, the students of Maryville College, are against the ‘Academic Bill of Restrictions,’ filled under Tennessee House Bill 432 and Senate Bill 1117, and believe that instead of weakening the educational environment through censorship, it is important to protect free speech, which is vital to the academic community.