Letter to Editor

May 29, 2003

Letters to the Editor
Daily Gazette
2345 Maxon Road
Schenectady, NY 12308-1105

To the Editor:

Before expressing his "view from there," Daily Gazette columnist Carl Strock should have done his homework ("Shielding colleges from view," May 29).

Let's look at the bill's intent. Its purpose is to exempt college classroom materials from the state's Freedom of Information Law (FOIL). As instructors' proprietary documents, these materials should not be subject to FOIL requests, and that's what the bill protects. Strock acknowledges that private institutions are already exempt from FOIL, and the bill would extend that coverage to public institutions.

The Assembly bill was introduced at the behest of the faculty union at Nassau Community College, and not on behalf of United University Professions as Strock contends. Nevertheless, we support the legislation.

Now that the facts are straight, let's examine Strock's motivation. His real issue is that he wants to dictate what courses public colleges should offer. He judges courses by their titles, which is just like "judging a book by its cover." In so doing, he belittles the principles of academic freedom by describing courses full of "stuff" he doesn't agree with. Like it or not, academic freedom is a fundamental tenet of life at the University, whether it's a public or private institution.

Like Strock, UUP supports Western civilization courses. But we also believe the University is a place for women's studies courses and those that explore classism and racism.

Sincerely,

William E. Scheuerman
President, United University Professions