From AFL-CIO Document AFTEducation_Mar01.doc
For Immediate Release-- Contact -- Steve Smith, 202-412-4440
AFL-CIO Adopts Resolutions Opposing Anti-Education Initiatives
Radical, right-wing efforts threaten school funding and academic integrity at colleges
(San Diego, February 28) – The AFL-CIO today denounced the misleading and harmful so-called “Academic Bill of Rights” and “65 Percent Solution” measures that are being pushed by leading opponents of public education. The AFL-CIO adopted resolutions opposing both measures as part of its Executive Council meetings being held this week in San Diego.
The AFL-CIO called the efforts part of a concerted attack on education by right-wing extremists who want to impose their ideological agenda on our nation’s schools.
“The AFL-CIO has always stood up for free speech and the free exchange of ideas,” said American Federation of Teachers President Edward J. McElroy. “In this country we have ideologues who are trying to limit what professors say in their classrooms. This is wrong and we have taken a stand against having governments interfere with decisions that should rightfully be made on campus.”
The AFL-CIO joined the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the National Education Association (NEA) and other education advocates and civil rights groups in formally opposing the measures, calling them efforts to quash the free sharing of ideas and thought on college campuses across the country. In its resolution opposing the so-called “Academic Bill of Rights,” the AFL-CIO noted that government interference in college classrooms would be detrimental to students and would weaken our system of colleges and universities.
“It is especially critical that institutions vital to the free expression of ideas, such as the press and higher education, be free from government interference,” the resolution states.
Larry Estrada, a professor at Western Washington University, welcomed the resolution.
“Thought control runs counter to both liberal and conservative ideologies,” Estrada said. “I think the present AFL-CIO resolution acts to preserve academic freedom and keep our colleges and universities open to all ideas.”
The faculty at Western Washington voted to unionize last week. The new union is an affiliate of AFT and NEA.
The Council also passed a resolution in opposition to the so-called “65 Percent Solution,” which would further exacerbate school funding problems by mandating that the 65 percent of school funding be provided directly for instruction without regard to the full range of services that support and sustain instruction.
“The so-called ‘65 Percent Solution’ is another untested proposal that does nothing to guarantee greater student achievement,” the resolution states.
On Monday NEA and the AFL-CIO forged a partnership that allows, for the first time, NEA locals to become affiliated with the AFL-CIO.