An Academic Bill of Rights submitted to Congress is keeping debate going at college campuses, although ISU officials said many of the bill’s provisions wouldn’t change Iowa State.

The Academic Bill of Rights would try to protect students from professors’ biases in teaching.

ISU officials said policies are already in place to protect the rights of faculty and students against problems the Academic Bill of Rights has been written in response to.

Georgia and Colorado state legislatures are considering the bill, which was drafted by David Horowitz, a columnist for frontpagemagazine.com and president of the Center for the Study of Popular Culture.

The bill is in response to students’ concerns about discrimination from professors who have a very liberal viewpoint, said Sara Dogan, national campus director for Students for Academic Freedom.

Students for Academic Freedom is a national network of students who feel there are unfair biases at universities across the country.

“[Campus] conservatives have been pushing for it because their viewpoint is in the minority,” Dogan said.

Faculty Senate President Jack Girton said he does not think the bill needs to be adopted on campus because he believes there is not such a liberal bias that exists at Iowa State. He said he had not heard of the policy but still believes it unnecessary.

“I’m not sure what I could define the American liberal as,” Girton said.

He said the university and Faculty Senate fully support faculty rights to free speech, but said there are limits to how and where they can express themselves.

“[Faculty members] cannot go into an English 104 class and launch into a political diatribe,” Girton said.

Vice Provost Howard Shapiro said there is a general understanding among faculty that they are not to use their classrooms to promote certain viewpoints.

He said policies in place on campus can protect students from professors who would be in violation of professional conduct, but the policies don’t directly relate to political bias.

Girton said if an ISU student experienced problems with a faculty member being biased in teaching, the student can submit a complaint.

Complaints should first be taken to the professor. If that doesn’t work, the student can then go to the department chairman or chairwoman or to the Dean of Students’ office.

He said there have only been four complaints this year, and none were related to a professor’s political bias.

Shapiro said he doesn’t receive many complaints, but encourages students to try to discuss disagreements with their professors or the department before coming to the dean.

Government of the Student Body President Mike Banasiak said he has heard students say they feel there is a certain slant from professors — but nothing substantial. He said GSB has been working on creating a more interactive evaluation system for professors, but it has been pushed into the background after recent budget cuts.

Although the Academic Bill of Rights could give students more academic rights, it would do so by unfairly restricting the rights of faculty, Girton said.

“I would be opposed to a policy that would limit what faculty would say and do in class,” he said. “We need to defend the right of the faculty to approach the subject as they want.”