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TALLAHASSEE — The pending Florida House bill that would establish a statewide code of academic freedom is unnecessary, UF officials say, because the university already has significant safeguards in place to protect student and faculty rights.

UF spokesman Joe Kays said the university’s Ombudsman’s Office investigates student and faculty complaints, and helps enforce existing university policies protecting students and faculty from political discrimination or retaliation — concerns bill sponsor Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, cited as reasons for the law.

The Legislature passed a law mandating colleges and universities to establish similar offices in 2002. UF had one much earlier.

“We feel that the legislature has already addressed this issue, and university procedures already address all the concerns Rep. Baxley has in his bill,” Kays said. “Students are pretty well-protected.”

Baxley recently sent a letter to UF President Bernie Machen explaining his reasons for pushing the bill. Kays said Machen received the letter and is formulating UF’s response.

The House Choice and Innovation Committee approved the bill Tuesday.

UF: Restating the obvious

Bob Jerry, dean of the UF Levin College of Law, said the language of Baxley’s bill restates principles of academic freedom enshrined in opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The problem, Jerry said, is that by codifying these principles as Florida statutes, the bill could have serious consequences.

“It is possible that if this were statutory law, academic freedom principles that we test and apply in university and faculty governance forums could be cited in the courts,” Jerry said. “That would be a very different environment for all of us and not one that, in my opinion, would be appropriate.”

Those concerns were echoed in a legislative staff analysis warning that the bill may allow Florida students to sue their professors and universities if they feel ridiculed in class, or if their professors fail to teach “alternative” theories on controversial subjects.

Making an example

At the Tuesday hearing, an example Baxley cited of when students should be allowed to sue is when biology professors teach evolution as fact, failing to acknowledge Creationism.

UF evolutionary geneticist Charles Baer said while he wouldn’t mark down students for not believing in evolution, they would still be expected to complete course work.

“If I was asking them to write a paper on one aspect of evolution, and they said they didn’t believe in evolution so they wouldn’t write a paper, they would be marked down,” he said. “If someone said, ‘I don’t believe in evolution, but if I did, this would be what I’d write,’ that would be OK. I’m not going to flunk someone for not believing in evolution.”

Baer said even if he knew he could be sued he would continue teaching the same way.

“Students should not be ridiculed in class, and in any context, it’s not appropriate, but some students may be touchier than others,” Baer said. “What seems as discussion to some people may seem inappropriate to others.”

Who teaches the teachers?

In urging lawmakers to pass the bill, Baxley said university classrooms have morphed into “niches of totalitarianism” where leftist professors are “dictators who control the indoctrinization of the next generation.”

UF physics professor Pierre Ramond, who serves as chairman of the Faculty Senate, said that demeans students’ intelligence.

“We’re not talking about 4-year-olds here,” he said. “Students have critical thinking ability. If they don’t like what they hear from their professor, they can ditch it.”

And as far as indoctrinization goes, professors combat that threat when they ask questions and force students to think on their own.

Baer said that if students in his class said they believed in Intelligent Design or another theory of Creationism, he would ask them questions in the Socratic method, forcing them to explain the reasoning behind their beliefs.

According to the UF Faculty Handbook, university policy maintains full academic freedom to discuss subjects frankly, select instructional materials and determine grades.

However, UF policy states that professors have several concurrent responsibilities, including “respect [for] the integrity of the evaluation process with regard to students…so that it reflects their true merit.”

“The establishment always tries to brainwash people, whatever the system,” Ramond said. “The only thing we have is critical thinking skills to see what’s good and what’s bad.”

The last thing Florida’s universities need is more litigation forcing professors to change their curricula, Ramond said.

“There are too many lawyers already,” he said.

“We are the guardians of the curriculum, and I think we do a pretty good job. American universities are some of the best in the world. I don’t think there’s a crisis out there.”