education freedom-of-speech kentucky
Is This A Legal Abuse of Teaching Power?
<p>From <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/102950/professor-creates-assignment-making-students-advocate-for-a-bill-being-presented">this question on Academia Stack Exchange</a>, a professor is requiring students to submit support for a law as an assignment. It's possible that the question misrepresents this, in that this is a bonus question, but assuming this is an assignment for which the final grade will be determined, is this a legal action a professor (or teacher) can make - requiring students to advocate support for a law, even if they personally don't?</p>

<p>Is it legal to make the students actually submit this to authorities, such as Congress?  I realize it's legal to challenge students to think from different points of view, but is it legal to <em>actually make them write support for a law and submit that to authorities?</em></p>

<p>There is nothing wrong with this requirement. The teacher or professor isn't requiring you to change your opinion. Instead, the requirement is simply to marshall evidence in favor of an opinion that you may not hold.</p>

<p>Being able to do this is a valuable rhetorical skill (and a skill which lawyers must routinely employ).</p>

<p>For example, in competitive debate, you often do not have the freedom to decide whether you will be arguing in favor or against a resolution, and may not even know which side you will be advancing until moments before the event starts.</p>

<p>Freedom of conscience does not extend to freedom from understanding people who disagree with your deeply held belief.</p>

<p>UPDATE: Requiring a whole classroom of students (possibly many classrooms of students) to advocate with multiple representatives for a bill does seem problematic, in terms of election laws and probably in terms of the legal requirements that apply to the university, and also possibly in terms of "forced speech", because in requiring the advocacy to be submitted to the official and take a particular position, goes beyond the "let's pretend" veneer that applies in most debate contexts.</p>

<p>This is an interesting test... perhaps even SCOTUS worthy.  I cannot find any SCOTUS case in which speech to a political manner was compelled by a graded assignment that would be used to promote the Professors political position to a law maker.  As you attend a State Funded University, the professor is a State Employee and cannot compel speech as part of his job under the 1st and 14th Amendment.  It's not only illegal, it's damn near unconstitutional.</p>

<p>As I have read, you have already turned in the assignment, and if you have not received a grade, I would request your envelops returned to you and not mailed to the elected officials (presumably two senators and a congressional representative?). I would also petition the department head and the school administration, protesting the assignment as a grade for the course.</p>

<p>Following that, you would likely want to get into contact with advocacy groups that deal with oversteps of college teachers.  For this situation, I would highly recommend Campus Reform, which is a right leaning organization, but has a big media presences.  I would also reach out to your two Senators, which, lucky you, are two very important Senators.  Your senior leadership is Mitch McChonnell, current Senate Majority Leader, and Rand Paul, who is a big name among the Libertarian wing of the Republican Party (and will be quite outspoken on any issue like this).</p>

<p>This will put pressure from both the internal and external sources to remove the grade from your score.  Should that not be valid, you will need to ask yourself if you are ready to fight this in court? </p>
