On Thursday I joined President Trump at the
White House for the signing of an executive order relating to
improving free inquiry, transparency, and accountability on
college campuses. The executive order requires colleges
receiving federal research grants to uphold freedom of
expression, directs the Department of Education to publish
program level data on graduate earnings and student debt on the
College Scorecard, and directs the department to submit policy
recommendations on risk-sharing proposals for colleges whose
students are eligible for federal student loans.
This is a critical step in addressing
significant and growing problems with higher education in
Wisconsin and across the country. Our universities have become
places where free expression is limited to free speech zones, in
a nation built on the idea of being a free speech zone from sea
to shining sea. Right here in the Fox Valley we have seen
firsthand how colleges are curtailing the first amendment rights
of pro-life students like Northeast Wisconsin Technical College
student Polly Olsen, who spoke at the White House today, and is
suing the campus to allow her to hand out religious themed
Valentines in public spaces.
We cannot claim to educate the minds of
students when we restrict their ability to speak and hear an
array of opinions. Colleges are supposed to be beacons of truth
where issues can be brought forward and debated without
restriction. Unfortunately, students and faculty members all too
often discover that when an idea is inconvenient, unpopular, or
politically conservative it is either banished by campus
administrators or silenced by student enforcers of political
correctness. No one on campus should face academic retribution,
intimidation, vandalism, theft, or threats of violence simply
because of their views. The president’s executive order sends a
strong and necessary signal that silencing speech will no longer
be acceptable at our universities.
Last session, my colleagues in the Assembly and I adopted a
bill to address freedom of expression on UW campuses. Although
the bill ultimately did not become law, it convinced the Board
of Regents to enact a policy placing stronger protections on
campus free speech. I'm confident that if we continue to raise
this critical issue, we will one day return univerities to real
places of public dialogue where anyone is welcome.
The president’s executive order will shine
a spotlight on graduate earnings and student debt within
specific academic programs, ensuring that prospective students
will be able to make informed decisions about their future
before investing tens of thousands of dollars in their college
education. This critical information will help steer students
and colleges in the right direction.
I look forward to the recommendations that
the Department of Education will prepare on colleges sharing the
risk that student loan borrowers endure when they put their
faith in the value of a college degree. It’s well past time that
colleges get some skin in the game, instead of benefitting
without risk from the trillions of dollars that students and
taxpayers have invested.
You can watch the video of the signing, and the speech by
local student Polly Olsen, by clicking on the pictures above.
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