Dennis Baxley, the guy who was on TV defending his "castle doctrine" bill, has done great harm to our state with some of his bills. He must have pleased his right wing donors.
The original link to The Alligator no longer works and is not in the Wayback Machine.
Florida Bill to stifle professors clears committee....the next battle.He speaks of professors with contempt.
Capitol bill aims to control ‘leftist’ profs
THE LAW COULD LET STUDENTS SUE FOR UNTOLERATED BELIEFS.
By JAMES VANLANDINGHAM
Alligator Staff Writer
TALLAHASSEE — Republicans on the House Choice and Innovation Committee voted along party lines Tuesday to pass a bill that aims to stamp out “leftist totalitarianism” by “dictator professors” in the classrooms of Florida’s universities.
The Academic Freedom Bill of Rights, sponsored by Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, passed 8-to-2 despite strenuous objections from the only two Democrats on the committee.
While promoting the bill Tuesday, Baxley said a university education should be more than “one biased view by the professor, who as a dictator controls the classroom,” as part of “a misuse of their platform to indoctrinate the next generation with their own views.”
Here is more about Baxley's "liberal professor" bill.
Bills filed in Florida and TN, maybe more, to stifle professors.Original link can't be found.
TALLAHASSEE -- SNIP..."Battling what he calls a "quiet prejudice" against conservative views on university campuses, a Florida lawmaker is proposing a "bill of rights" that some claim is an effort to stifle the academic freedoms the bill seeks to protect.
Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, filed House Bill 837 after he attended a meeting last year in St. Louis where well-known conservative activist David Horowitz railed against liberal biases on campus toward professors and students.
House Bill 837 promises to protect "free inquiry and free speech within the academic community." A portion of the bill says that students should not have their academic freedom "infringed upon by instructors who persistently introduce controversial matter into the classroom that has no relation to the subject of study and serves no legitimate pedagogical purpose." Baxley said that simply means a science professor should stick to that topic and not let any digressions into other matters affect the class...."
Atrocious bills. I have not paid attention to which of them passed or what parts of them. At that time I was on a mailing list with many USF professors, and they were already feeling the attacks. Things were getting ugly.
I think we have ignored for too long the extremists like Baxley, who incidentally was a close buddy of Jeb.
We should not forget the words of Robert Kuttner last August. We should take these folks VERY seriously.
Looking for some good news But great presidents lead. Obama seems to be taking the advice of Plouffe and Daley to follow. Even worse, their advice is wrong on the merits. Obama may think he is doing the brave and unpopular thing by calling for belt-tightening in a recession. But that is bravery on behalf of a fool's errand.
Obama may yet be saved by the sheer extremism of the likely Republican nominee. But we should not bet the farm on that either. I vividly remember being reassured that Ronald Reagan was too far-right, and George W. Bush too dumb, to be elected. So much for that theory.
