A loyal EMUTalk.org reader suggested I post this the other day: from Inside Higher Ed comes “WTF, Arizona,” which is about a rather odd bill being considered in the Arizona state legislature.
Arizona legislators are considering one bill that would punish college instructors whose speech or actions would violate broadcast obscenity standards and another bill designed to protect conservative faculty members from discrimination in getting hired or tenured.
Many in the higher education community aren’t amused.
A University of Arizona physiology professor worries the obscenity proposal, dubbed the “G-rated” bill, might affect his ability to discuss sexually transmitted diseases in class. The American Association of University Professors says both bills would be harmful to higher education.
The “G-rated” bill would require colleges to suspend or fire an instructor who “engages in speech or conduct that would violate the standards adopted by the Federal Communications Commission concerning obscenity, indecency and profanity if that speech were broadcast on television or radio.” The first four-letter word would bring at least a one-week suspension without pay. By the third violation, the instructor would have to be terminated.
The article then takes a turn to suggest that obscenity is somehow a political and religious issue: that is, liberals and heathens have potty-mouths. Hmm.
All I know is this: I’m pretty sure conservatives swear once in a while too, and Arizona seems like a pretty f-ed up state, or at least the politicians running the place seem to be more than a little crazy.
