Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Transparency and academic freedom in Texas

An article in the September/October issue of ACADEME, "Three Clicks and Academic Freedom is Out," describes a new law in Texas.  As a result of legislation passed in 2009, all public universities are required to post detailed syllabi for all undergraduate courses, a curriculum vitae for each regular instructor, a department budget report for each course offered, and reports of student course evaluations.  The author notes this law as an example of how "activists, notable in Texas but with ties to other states and to national groups, have adopted the rhetoric of transparency to further their own conservative agendas."