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AJC.com > Legislature > Blog > Archives > 2009 > February > 11 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USLawmaker defends academic freedom in sex expert spat
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rep. Karla Drenner (D-Avondale Estates) said Wednesday that some of her colleagues in the House have engaged in “unsubstantiated fear and rumor mongering” by questioning the motivations of university instructors who are experts in subjects like oral sex, “queer theory” and male prostitution.
Drenner, an adjunct professor at DeVry University, said those lawmakers are challenging the foundation of academic freedom, which she said is a vital tool in research and in building a well-rounded citizenry.
Several Georgia State University instructors spoke at a House Higher Education Committee meeting on Tuesday after a pair of lawmakers over the past week have blistered the school for employing them.
Reps. Calvin Hill (R-Canton) and Charlice Byrd (R-Woodstock) have said the state should not fund professors and experts in those kinds of topics. Byrd has also questioned why the University of Georgia has a professor with a class dealing with “queer theory,” according to a story in today’s Athens Banner-Herald.
The GSU instructors do not teach courses in male prostitution or oral sex, but were listed as experts in those subjects in the university’s experts guide, which journalists and others use to find people knowledgeable in various topics.
Those teachers, Drenner said, “had to appear because of misleading accusations made from this well.”
“I know many people have a low opinion of things like academic freedom,” Drenner said. “As a college faculty member myself, I relish academic freedom. I do not relish it as being able to say anything I want and as some relic of the past to hide behind. I relish it because it allows us all to watch a student’s mind” grow and prosper.
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By Doug C.
February 11, 2009 12:37 PM | Link to this
Representitive Hill, Representative Byrd? You’ve just had your ignorant asses handed to you by Higher Education, what are you going to do next? “We’re going to Disney Country!!!”
Seriously, those two idiots need to be voted out of office and I hope they are suffering from many forms of embarrassment as a result of their stupid and ignorant rants.