The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate passed a resolution that stated its official support of the University's policy on Academic Freedom earlier this semester on Feb. 13. The TCU Senators voted in favor of this resolution, 21 to three, with one vote of abstention.
The resolution was introduced into the TCU Senate by the Tufts Academic Freedom Project (TAFP), spearheaded by members of The Primary Source - "the journal of conservative thought' at the University" - as well as the Tufts Republicans, in response to a perceived liberal bias among professors and an imbalance in the curricula of some departments.
The approval of the resolution has no effect other than officially recognizing student support for - and TCU Senate approval of - the official University policy on academic freedom.
This policy, last revised in 2000, is dictated by the University's Board of Trustees and states that Tufts professors "should be free from institutional censorship or discipline [but] should exercise appropriate restraint, should show respect for the opinions of others, and should make every effort to indicate that he/she is not an institutional spokesman."
The most explicit rule set forth in the policy is that professors should "be careful not to introduce into his/her teaching controversial matter which has no relation to the subject."
Earlier this year, a similar resolution was presented before the TCU Senate but the TCU Senate decided not to vote on it because the wording of the resolution contained no Tufts-specific
language, according to graduating TCU Senator senior Matthew Pohl.
"The best resolutions, when presented before the TCU Senate, either address current policies or the need to have a new policy," Pohl said.
This older resolution was closely tied to a larger national issue being pushed by right-wing activist David Horowitz, and this resolution was based on the Academic Bill of Rights used by Students for Academic Freedom - a national organization Horowitz helped found.
In general, the TCU Senate is hesitant to vote on issues of national consequence, as they consider such issues to be outside the scope of their authority.
Graduating senior Brandon Balkind, who played a role in the creation of the TAFP, said he believes that the most significant achievement of the project thus far is that it has publicized its message.
"[The resolution] got a real discussion going about what the obligation of the faculty is," he said.
The coordinators of the TAFP planned to hold a forum on academic freedom in April to further the dialogue, but Balkind said that scheduling conflicts prevented it from happening.
Aside from organizing a petition to present a resolution to the TCU Senate, the coordinators of the project have collected syllabi from almost every Liberal Arts professor at Tufts.
Balkind said he sees the project as addressing a larger issue than the inappropriate behavior of individual professors. According to him, looking at the project as simply an effort to identify specific instances of bias is "the entirely wrong way" to think about it.
The main goal of the project is to make professors realize that students want a diversity of opinion in the classroom. "The reason I started [the TAFP] was to try to get professors to justify to students the education they are providing them," Balkind said.
Balkind acknowledged that "every person has their biases, whatever topic you're discussing." He said he believes that professors often do not present every side of the issues they discuss in class.
"Professors don't feel like they are obligated to present both viewpoints," Balkind said. He said that he received such impression "from the mouths of many professors" during his conversations with faculty this year.
"They don't want any sort of oversight about what they teach," Balkind said, and that he believes this attitude goes beyond ideological issues, extending even to the organization of curricula.
He intends for the project to make professors look more critically at what they are doing. One possible solution is for each department to convene once a year and write a publicized report on the status of diversity of education they are giving and how they are improving it.
Balkind said that most universities have some type of internal review process once every five years or so during which they ask the following questions: What is the status of our department? Where is our education heading? What do we need to add to or subtract from our curriculum?
As far as future plans for the project, Balkind said that at the moment they are currently trying to plan the forum for next fall and "reflect on what we've accomplished, what we've found out so far."
Balkind said he wanted to clarify that the aim of the project is not "to rush to judgment or punish professors," as he does not want to turn the TAFP into an "ideological witch hunt."
Despite that this revised resolution did pass through the TCU Senate, the TAFP has its critics. Pohl said he thinks that the overall conduct of the members of the project has been "reprehensible."
According to Pohl, it is not appropriate for members of the TAFP to declare their intention to report alleged cases of ideological discrimination in The Primary Source before educating the Tufts community about how curriculum and professors are evaluated.
"It's more about getting off on belittling people than about actual dialogue," Pohl said. Pohl said he does not think that bias is an overwhelming problem in classrooms at Tufts.
If the TAFP wants to have a serious discussion they must "detach themselves from the auspices of the Primary Source and the Tufts Republicans," Pohl said. "[The TAFP has] lost too much credibility to suddenly reverse course and attempt a movement that seeks inclusion."
President of the Tufts Republicans sophomore Douglas Kingman said that next year he will create "an academic environment at Tufts that is stronger through a faculty and student commitment to multiple viewpoints and debate."
"In the fall we will continue to build a dialogue between students, faculty and administrators to get input on the current proposal, strengthen the ideas, and to form a framework for the goals of the resolution to be accepted at the university level," Kingman said.