College Censorship Bill Advances | Pith in the Wind | nashvillescene.com – Nashville Scene

A bill that could limit conversations about race and sex at public universities passed the state Senate on Monday and in House earlier this month.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Mike Bell (R-Riceville) and House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville), is similar to legislation passed last year that limits divisive topics from being taught in K-12 schools. The prohibited topics of this years bill include 16 tenets, which are the same as the K-12 version with two additional points. Among them: An individual, by virtue of the individual's race or sex, is inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously, and An individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or another form of psychological distress solely because of the individual's race or sex. The bill states that students and employees cannot be penalized for their stance on any of the divisive topics employees cant be required to endorse them in order to get hired or promoted, and students cant be required to do the same in order to graduate.

The House and Senate versions of the bill are slightly different, and their differences need to be resolved before moving on to the governors desk for a signature. The House version of the bill requires a college or university to investigate related complaints, but the Senate version does not according to the latters summary, An individual who believes that a violation of these provisions has occurred, may pursue all equitable or legal remedies that may be available to the individual in a court of competent jurisdiction.

Additionally, the legislation states that colleges and universities cannot mandate training that includes any of the divisive concepts. They must also perform a biennial survey that measures campus climate with regard to diversity and campus freedom of speech. The Senate version of the bill would require institutions to present their findings to the General Assembly.

If the two versions of the bill are not resolved, then the legislation will go to a conference committee, and would ultimately be voted on again.

The whole bill is remarkably vague and to my mind, it's intentionally vague, Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) tells the Scene. As we saw with the K-12 version of this legislation, the way its actually communicated to the public and used by political actors takes advantage of that vagueness to challenge the curriculum thats used in schools.

Bill sponsor Sen. Bell noted in the Senate chamber on Monday that, unlike last years K-12 legislation, This bill is not directed at what can or cannot be taught, but it's directed at any adverse action that would take place against somebody who didn't conform to these ideas or didn't accept these ideas and concepts.

This legislation does not hinder endeavors within higher education aimed at combating discrimination, state House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) said in a statement. It is a proactive solution that puts guardrails in place to ensure any diversity efforts by our colleges and universities do not become divisive by casting shadows upon groups or individuals for circumstances that are beyond their control.

Though critical race theory is a term often used to describe these kinds of topics, its worth noting that CRT is a legal term meant to examine how racism can be perpetuated through legal frameworks. CRT is not specifically mentioned in the bill.

It puts a chilling effect on our professors and our universities, said Sen. Brenda Gilmore on Monday (D-Nashville). And I also think that we're taking a lot of the latitude and the freedom away from our professors and administrators to teach without feeling like they're going to be jeopardizing their funding in their colleges and their universities.

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College Censorship Bill Advances | Pith in the Wind | nashvillescene.com - Nashville Scene