“Hem Hem” – Why we need an Academic Bill of Rights

Delores Umbridge is one of the most hated characters in the Harry Potter novels. While this witch dressed all in pink is touted as revolutionizing how defense against the dark arts is taught, we all know that her main goal is to push her own personal beliefs on the students. This character uses her classroom as a place to infuse students with propaganda during a developmental time period where children are easily misguided.

While Professor Umbridge is a fictional character, many of us have been in classrooms where the teacher openly touts their religous or political beliefs in front of the children. Because we are looking at a new administration with new ideas and opportunities for educational reform, I think it’s time we all adopt an Academic Bill of Rights.

The Academic Bill of Rights is based squarely on the almost
100-year-old tradition of academic freedom that the American
Association of University Professors has established. The bill’s
purposes are to codify that tradition; to emphasize the value of
“intellectual diversity,” already implicit in the concept of academic
freedom; and, most important, to enumerate the rights of students to
not be indoctrinated or otherwise assaulted by political propagandists
in the classroom or any educational setting. ¹

^{1 Ethics Scoreboard – “Academic Freedom or Indoctrination”}
David Horowitz Biography
Student Bill of Rights
Academic Bill of Rights
The Political Attack on our Universities
Students for Academic Freedom