BILL NUMBER: SB 5	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 13, 2005

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Morrow
    (   Coauthor:   Senator   Dutton
  ) 
    (   Coauthors:   Assembly Members 
 Cogdill,   DeVore,   and Wyland   )


                        DECEMBER 6, 2004

   An act to add Section 66015.8 to the Education Code, relating to
public postsecondary education.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 5, as amended, Morrow.  Public postsecondary education
standard: Student Bill of Rights.
   Existing law establishes the various segments of the public higher
education system in the state. These segments include the University
of California, which is administered by the Regents of the
University of California, the California State University, which is
administered by the Trustees of the California State University, and
the California Community Colleges, which is administered by the Board
of Governors of the California Community Colleges.
   This bill would request the Regents of the University of
California, and direct the Trustees of the California State
University and the Board of Governors of the California Community
Colleges, to develop guidelines and implement specified principles,
relating to academic freedom, of a Student Bill of Rights.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  Section 66015.8 is added to the Education Code, to
read:
   66015.8.   (a) (1) The Legislature makes the following
declarations and findings with respect to public institutions of
higher education:
   (A) The Legislature declares that the central purposes of the
university are the pursuit of truth, the discovery of new knowledge
through scholarship and research, the study and reasoned criticism of
intellectual and cultural traditions, the teaching and general
development of students to help them become creative individuals and
productive citizens of a pluralistic democracy, and the transmission
of knowledge and learning to a society at large.
   (B) The Legislature further declares that free inquiry and free
speech within the academic community are indispensable to the
achievement of these goals, the freedoms to teach and to learn depend
upon the creation of appropriate conditions and opportunities on the
campus as a whole as well as in the classrooms and lecture halls,
and these purposes reflect the values of pluralism, diversity,
opportunity, critical intelligence, openness, and fairness that are
the cornerstones of American society.
   (C) The Legislature finds that academic freedom is most likely to
thrive in an environment of intellectual diversity that protects and
fosters independence of thought and speech, and that academic freedom
protects the intellectual independence of professors, researchers,
and students in the pursuit of knowledge and the expression of ideas
from interference by legislators or authorities within the
institution itself.
   (D) The Legislature further declares that intellectual
independence means the protection of students from the imposition of
any orthodoxy of a political, religious, or ideological nature. To
achieve the intellectual independence of students, teachers should
not take unfair advantage of  a student's immaturity
  their position of power over a student  by
indoctrinating him or her with the teacher's own opinions before a
student has had an opportunity fairly to examine other opinions upon
the matters in question, and before a student has sufficient
knowledge and  ripeness of judgment   life
experience  to be entitled to form any definitive opinion of his
or her own, and students should be free to take reasoned exception
to the data or views offered in any course of study and to reserve
judgment about matters of opinion.
   (b) To secure the intellectual independence of students, and to
protect the principles of intellectual diversity, the Regents of the
University of California are requested to, and the Trustees of the
California State University and the Board of Governors of the
California Community Colleges are hereby directed to, develop
guidelines and implement the following principles of the Student Bill
of Rights:
   (1) Students shall be graded solely on the basis of their reasoned
answers and appropriate knowledge of the subjects and disciplines
they study  ,   attendance, class participation, and
other generally accepted grading criteria  , not on the basis of
their political or religious beliefs.
   (2) Curricula and reading lists in the humanities and social
sciences shall respect the uncertainty and unsettled character of all
human knowledge in these areas, and provide students with dissenting
sources and viewpoints. While teachers are and should be free to
pursue their own findings and perspectives in presenting their views,
they should consider and make their students aware of other
viewpoints. Academic disciplines should welcome a diversity of
approaches to unsettled questions
   (3) Exposing students to the spectrum of significant scholarly
viewpoints on the subjects examined in their courses is a major
responsibility of faculty. Faculty shall not use their courses or
their positions for the purpose of political, ideological, religious,
or antireligious indoctrination.
   (4) The selection of speakers, allocation of funds for speakers'
programs, and other student activities shall observe the principles
of academic freedom and promote intellectual pluralism.
   (5) An environment conducive to the civil exchange of ideas being
an essential component of a free university, the obstruction of
invited campus speakers, the destruction of campus literature, or any
other effort to obstruct this exchange shall not be tolerated.