Bill Text: NJ A5620 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires public institutions of higher education to appoint academic freedom advocate and adopt free speech principles; appropriates $1 million.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-06-20 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Higher Education Committee [A5620 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2022-A5620-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman REGINALD W. ATKINS
District 20 (Union)
Assemblywoman MILA M. JASEY
District 27 (Essex and Morris)
Assemblywoman SHANIQUE SPEIGHT
District 29 (Essex)
SYNOPSIS
Requires public institutions of higher education to appoint academic freedom advocate and adopt free speech principles; appropriates $1 million.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning academic freedom at public institutions of higher education, supplementing chapter 62 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes, and making an appropriation.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature finds and declares that:
a. A distinguishing feature of American higher education is its independence from direct governmental control.
b. Academic freedom is necessary for institutions of higher education to serve the common good and function as intellectual centers where young people succeed and where the ideas that drive our country's economy and democracy are ignited.
c. Across the nation, there has been an increase in recent years in efforts to stifle ideas, silence debate, and limit the autonomy of institutions of higher education whose faculty, staff, or students may disagree with political officials.
d. These efforts include executive and legislative actions to: mandate, restrict, or prohibit content in the classroom or in extracurricular programs; empower partisan political appointees to determine campus policy and erode tenure protections; and limit the freedom to learn, teach, and conduct research.
e. Government officials should not make decisions about what can or cannot be taught, discussed, or debated on college campuses or impose restrictions on campus speech or curricula. Government officials should not dictate what academic majors and student groups, including fraternities and sororities, are available at our institutions of higher education.
f. Any effort to curb academic freedom is a dangerous threat to our institutions of higher education and to our society.
2. a. The governing board of each public institution of higher education shall adopt principles that outline their institution's stance on open inquiry and free speech, both inside the classroom and across campus.
b. The governing board of each public institution of higher education shall appoint an academic freedom advocate. It shall be the role of the advocate to:
(1) affirm the commitment of the institution to academic freedom;
(2) promote an improved understanding of the meaning and value of free speech on campus;
(3) identify effective measures by which the institution can protect its departments, faculty, and student groups from political pressures to limit academic freedom; and
(4) identify potential external funding sources for entities and programming most vulnerable to attacks from political opponents, including centers, associations, programs, and student groups that promote specific cultures or populations.
c. A public institution of higher education may apply to the Secretary of Higher Education, in such manner as the secretary deems necessary, for a grant to support the implementation of the provisions of this section.
3. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education the sum of $1,000,000 for the purpose of providing grants to public institutions of higher education to implement the provisions of section 2 of this act.
4. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires public institutions of higher education to appoint an academic freedom advocate and adopt free speech principles, and appropriates $1 million to the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education.
This bill requires the governing board of each public institution of higher education to adopt principles that outline their institution's stance on open inquiry and free speech, both inside the classroom and across campus.
The bill also requires the governing board of each public institution of higher education to appoint an academic freedom advocate. Under the bill, the role of the advocate is to:
(1) affirm the commitment of the institution to academic freedom;
(2) promote an improved understanding of the meaning and value of free speech on campus;
(3) identify effective measures by which the institution can protect its departments, faculty, and student groups from political pressures to limit academic freedom; and
(4) identify potential external funding sources for entities and programming most vulnerable to attacks from political opponents, including centers, associations, and student groups that promote specific cultures or populations.
The bill provides that a public institution of higher education may apply to the Secretary of Higher Education for a grant to support the implementation of the bill's provisions.
Finally, the bill appropriates from the General Fund to the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education the sum of $1,000,000 for the purpose of providing grants to public institutions of higher education to implement the bill's provisions.
Recent years have witnessed an increase in efforts by political officials to limit academic freedoms at institutions of higher education. This bill directs the State's public institutions of higher education to take proactive measures to protect against the erosion of academic freedoms.
