A bill to protect campus conservatives?

A professor requires that students write - and send - antiwar letters to President Bush to receive full class credit.

A graduate student instructor warns, in the description for his course on Palestinian resistance, that "conservative thinkers are encouraged to seek other sections."

A criminology professor assigns a paper on "Why George Bush Is a War Criminal," and fails a paper submitted instead on "Why Saddam Hussein Is a War Criminal."

These are just a sampling of recent anecdotes that critics cite when they want to show that campus politics not only tilt to the left, but sometimes do so to the exclusion of all other opinions. Conservatives, they warn, may have become the most discriminated-against minority in academia.

Now, they're offering a solution: an "academic bill of rights," penned by conservative activist David Horowitz, one version of which has already been introduced to the US House of Representatives. Another may come soon before the Colorado legislature.

It's a bill that critics say would destroy academic freedom - even as proponents insist it is needed to salvage it.

And it has also raised some old questions about just how tolerant campuses are - a question both sides admit needs to be taken seriously.

"All the evidence is anecdotal," says Philip Klinkner, a professor of government at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., about the charge that conservatives sometimes feel unwelcome on campuses. "But on the other hand, there's a lot of it, and therefore should be a cause of concern."

Professor Klinkner, a liberal himself, says he sees some value to the bill of rights, and he wonders whether the knee-jerk reaction against it hasn't in some ways reinforced the point Mr. Horowitz was making.

The subject of all the furor is relatively toothless - a bill that is more an expression of principles than any real threat to intrude on hiring or curriculum matters.

Its eight points include the idea that faculty should not be hired, fired, or granted tenure on the basis of political or religious beliefs; that students should never be graded on such beliefs; that faculty shouldn't use the classroom for indoctrination; and that courses should offer a range of viewpoints.

"You'd think this would be second nature for anyone who calls themselves an educator," says Horowitz.

So why the fuss?

The idea of lawmakers moving in to professors' domain has drawn the most outrage, from groups like the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

"There's a sad history of legislators expressing views on what should and should not be taught," says Jonathan Knight, a spokesman for the AAUP. "What conservatives and liberals alike should be championing is the independence of universities and faculties to make decisions free of the pressures of external bodies like legislatures."

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