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Iowa bill would mandate survey of public university employees' political affiliations

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AdvertisementIowa bill would mandate survey of public university employees' political affiliationsHide TranscriptShow TranscriptSO FAR IN IOWA, MORE THAN 410,000 DOSES HAVE BEEN ADMINISTERED. STEVE: NEW AT 10:00. AN IOWA LAWMAKER WHO WANTS TO SURVEY THE STATE’S PUBLIC UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEES ON THEI POLITICAL BELIEFS IS INTRODUCING A NEW BILL THIS WEEK AT THE STATEHOUSE.BUT AS KCCI’S CHRIS GOTHNER REPORTS THE AMEICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION IS PUSHING BACK CHRIS: REPUBLICAN SENATOR JIM CARLIN INTRODUCED A BILL. HE SAID HE HAS CONCERNS OVER POLITICAL IMBALANCE IN IOWA UPON UNIVERSITIES. &gt;&gt; THERE’S CONCERN IT MAY SOMEWHERE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF 90%, DEMOCRAT, 10%, REPUBLICAN, MAYBE EVEN NORTH OF THAT. CHRIS: SENATE FILE 292 DIRECTS THE STATE BOARD OF REGENTS TO SURVEY EMPLOYEES OF IOWA’S THREE PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES FOR THEI POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS AND SEND THE RESULTS TO LAWMAKERS BY THE END OF THE YEAR. REPUBLICANS HAVE TAKEN IOWA’ UNIVERSITIES TO TASK, FOR INCIDENTS THEY SEE AS BIAS AGAINST CONSERVATIVES. &gt;&gt; WE HAVE HAD QUITE A FEW STUDENTS SAY THAT THEY A AFRAID TO VOICE THEIR POLITICA VIEWS IN CLASSROOMS. CHRIS BUT THE AMERICAN CIVIL : LIBERTIES UNION OF IOWA OPPOSES THE BILL CITING MULTIPLE CONCERNS, INCLUDING PRIVACY. &gt;&gt; THE GOVERNMENT JUST SHOULDN’T BE IN THE BUSINESS OF ASKING ITS EMPLOYEES, WHAT THEIR POLITICA BELIEFS ARE, WHO THEY VOTED FOR. IMAGINE IF YOU’RE AT WORK AT ONE OF THE COLLEGES AND WHATEVER CAPACITY YOU’RE IN, AND YOU GET THE MEMO FROM YOUR BOSS TELLING YOU ALRIGHT, TODAY’S THE DA TO TELL ME WHO YOU VOTED FOR. THAT THAT HAS A CHILLING EFFECT ON POLITICAL ASSOCIATION. &gt;&gt; ALL THE BIG TECH MEDIA PLATFORMS COLLECT DATA ON EVER SINGLE ONE OF US. THE THINGS WE LOOK AT OUR , POSITIONS ON SOCIAL MEDIA, YOU KNOW, WE JUST SAW A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES CENSORED AND SILENCED ON TWITTER AND ON FACEBOOK SO IT’S ALREADY BEING DONE. CHRIS: THE BOARD OF REGENTS HASN’T TAKEN A POSITION ON THE BILL. A SPOKESPERSON SAID IT’S MONITORING IT. AT THE STATEHOUSE, CHRIS GOTHNER,AdvertisementIowa bill would mandate survey of public university employees' political affiliationsCiting concerns over an imbalance of political beliefs among faculty at Iowa's public universities, a state lawmaker has introduced a bill requiring the state Board of Regents to survey employees at Iowa's three public universities about their political affiliations.The survey results wouldn't list the names of individual employees.A civil rights group, however, has come out in opposition to Senate File 292, introduced by Sen. Jim Carlin, R-Sioux City. "There's concerns that, you know, it might be somewhere in the neighborhood of 90%, Democrat, 10% Republican, maybe even north of that," Carlin said. "So, you know, if, if the taxpayers are paying that paying the bill to fund our Regents, we want to be sure that there's a reasonable balance in our professor composition."KCCI asked Carlin what his ideal ratio would be."I guess I would say probably 50-50," he said.Republican lawmakers have taken Iowa's public universities to task over what they see as political bias against conservatives. "We don't want to have a situation where we start squelching free speech on our campuses because of the political composition of our professors," Carlin said. "We have had quite a few students say that they are afraid to voice their political views and classrooms."The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa opposes the bill."I suspect the intent of this is to ensure a wide variety of views on a campus and we think that there are simply better ways to do it," Pete McRoberts, ACLU of Iowa policy director, said. "The government just shouldn't be in the business of asking its employees what their political beliefs are, who they voted for."McRoberts concerns about privacy violations and a potential chilling effect on freedom of association."Imagine if you're at work at one of the colleges and whatever capacity you're in, and you get the memo from your boss telling you 'Alright, today's the day tell me who you voted for.' That has a chilling effect on political association," McRoberts said. "I think that our chief concern of ours is that makes it less likely that a person would want to affiliate with a political party or engage in political activity."KCCI asked Carlin what lawmakers would do after receiving the information collected in the survey."I guess that's something we'll have to look at--if it's inordinately high," Carlin said. "Either way, then that's an issue we're going to have to take up and look at and see if that's the direction we want to go to see if it fairly represents the political composition of taxpayers in Iowa."Carlin responded to concerns about privacy."Big tech media platforms collect data on every single one of us, the things we look at, our positions, on social media," he said. "We just saw a president of the United States censored and silenced on Twitter and on Facebook. So it's already being done." Nationwide research conducted in 2007 found that a plurality, 46%, of college faculty members considered themselves moderates. Forty-one percent considered themselves liberal, while only 9% considered themselves conservative.More recent research published in the journal Political Science &amp; Politics found that both liberal and conservative students' views both tend to become more moderate during their time in college.The Iowa Board of Regents has not taken a position on Senate File 292."The Board of Regents is monitoring the bill and will follow the language if it moves through the legislative process," spokesperson Josh Lehman said in a statement. "The bill was just introduced and we will continue to work with the legislature on any and all issues that relate to higher education."The bill has not yet passed a Senate subcommittee.Citing concerns over an imbalance of political beliefs among faculty at Iowa's public universities, a state lawmaker has introduced a bill requiring the state Board of Regents to survey employees at Iowa's three public universities about their political affiliations.The survey results wouldn't list the names of individual employees.AdvertisementA civil rights group, however, has come out in opposition to , introduced by Sen. Jim Carlin, R-Sioux City. "There's concerns that, you know, it might be somewhere in the neighborhood of 90%, Democrat, 10% Republican, maybe even north of that," Carlin said. "So, you know, if, if the taxpayers are paying that paying the bill to fund our Regents, we want to be sure that there's a reasonable balance in our professor composition."KCCI asked Carlin what his ideal ratio would be."I guess I would say probably 50-50," he said.Republican lawmakers have taken Iowa's public universities to task over what they see as political bias against conservatives."We don't want to have a situation where we start squelching free speech on our campuses because of the political composition of our professors," Carlin said. "We have had quite a few students say that they are afraid to voice their political views and classrooms."The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa opposes the bill."I suspect the intent of this is to ensure a wide variety of views on a campus and we think that there are simply better ways to do it," Pete McRoberts, ACLU of Iowa policy director, said. "The government just shouldn't be in the business of asking its employees what their political beliefs are, who they voted for."McRoberts concerns about privacy violations and a potential chilling effect on freedom of association."Imagine if you're at work at one of the colleges and whatever capacity you're in, and you get the memo from your boss telling you 'Alright, today's the day tell me who you voted for.' That has a chilling effect on political association," McRoberts said. "I think that our chief concern of ours is that makes it less likely that a person would want to affiliate with a political party or engage in political activity."KCCI asked Carlin what lawmakers would do after receiving the information collected in the survey."I guess that's something we'll have to look at--if it's inordinately high," Carlin said. "Either way, then that's an issue we're going to have to take up and look at and see if that's the direction we want to go to see if it fairly represents the political composition of taxpayers in Iowa."Carlin responded to concerns about privacy."Big tech media platforms collect data on every single one of us, the things we look at, our positions, on social media," he said. "We just saw a president of the United States censored and silenced on Twitter and on Facebook. So it's already being done." Nationwide research conducted in 2007 that a plurality, 46%, of college faculty members considered themselves moderates. Forty-one percent considered themselves liberal, while only 9% considered themselves conservative.More recent research published in the journal Political Science &amp; Politics that both liberal and conservative students' views both tend to become more moderate during their time in college.The Iowa Board of Regents has not taken a position on Senate File 292."The Board of Regents is monitoring the bill and will follow the language if it moves through the legislative process," spokesperson Josh Lehman said in a statement. "The bill was just introduced and we will continue to work with the legislature on any and all issues that relate to higher education."The bill has not yet passed a Senate subcommittee.Loading more articles...

AdvertisementIowa bill would mandate survey of public university employees' political affiliationsHide TranscriptShow TranscriptSO FAR IN IOWA, MORE THAN 410,000 DOSES HAVE BEEN ADMINISTERED. STEVE: NEW AT 10:00. AN IOWA LAWMAKER WHO WANTS TO SURVEY THE STATE’S PUBLIC UNIVERSITY EMPLOYEES ON THEI POLITICAL BELIEFS IS INTRODUCING A NEW BILL THIS WEEK AT THE STATEHOUSE.BUT AS KCCI’S CHRIS GOTHNER REPORTS THE AMEICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION IS PUSHING BACK CHRIS: REPUBLICAN SENATOR JIM CARLIN INTRODUCED A BILL. HE SAID HE HAS CONCERNS OVER POLITICAL IMBALANCE IN IOWA UPON UNIVERSITIES. &gt;&gt;...

Iowa bill would mandate survey of public university employees' political affiliations

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