Fact-checking David Horowitz Smear of UT-Austin

by: FreeExchange

Sat Jun 30, 2007 at 07:57 PM CDT

Earlier this year, Senator Jeff Wentworth introduced a little resolution concerning academic freedom at Texas colleges and universities. We at Free Exchange on Campus (and many others) opposed the resolution as the first step to government intervention into the college classrooms in Texas. The measure ultimately stalled out in committee.

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Redistricting Commission Bill Passes Senate

by: Karl-Thomas Musselman

Mon Apr 16, 2007 at 06:56 PM CDT

Via Quorum Report...

Sen. Jeff Wentworth's (R-San Antonio) bill passed the Senate on a vote of 21-9. Those voting against the measure included Estes, Fraser, Harris, Jackson, Nelson, Nichols, Ogden, Patrick, Shapiro and Williams. Bill is likely to have an uphill battle in the House.

This is great, positive development and at least it's passed out of the Senate which is an improvement over sessions where it dies in committee. Of course, we'll see if DeLay takes a break from being ~~majority leader~~ ~~minority leader~~ a nobody to visit his friend Tom Craddick in the Texas House to bend him to his will.

This ~~bill~~ concept needs to pass but I wouldn't place my bets on it. But this is a step in the right direction. (John Courage makes an excellent point in the comments that the Senate bill in wording is outdone by a better bill in the House).

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Resolution affronts academic freedom

by: persiancowboy

Mon Mar 26, 2007 at 01:51 AM CDT

Also on The Daily Texan

Most of you are probably familiar with David Horowitz's op-ed in the Texan last month. Unfortunately, the Horowitz lobby has been able to take their ultra-conservative propaganda into our state Legislature.

Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, has introduced SCR 3, which will be heard today at the Senate committee on Higher Education, and is part of Horowitz's politically motivated attack on universities. Horowitz is trying to convince the public that there is a crisis of political bias in college classrooms - one that needs to be solved by stifling the free exchange of ideas, which is so critical to higher education. His campaign is premised on the idea that students need to be protected from professors and the ideas they share in the classroom.

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Don't Mess with Texas Higher Education

by: FreeExchange

Sun Mar 25, 2007 at 03:31 PM CDT

Tomorrow, the Texas Senate Higher Ed Committee will consider SCR 3, a resolution sponsored by Sen. Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio). The resolution is supposedly intended to encourage colleges and universities to protect "academic freedom." And while it is only a resolution and one in which the majority of the language is innocuous, no one should be fooled about what this resolution is about.

Across the country, anti-free speech activists such as David Horowitz and Lynne Cheney's American Council of Trustees and Alumni, are promoting a politically motivated campaign to attack higher education. They are trying to convince the public that there is a crisis of political bias in college classrooms--one that needs to be solved by stifling the free exchange of ideas which is so critical to higher education. They are using resolutions like SCR 3 to promote that campaign.

This year alone, there has been one type of legislation or another of this sort introduced in 11 states and over the last three years, there have been 28 states with such legislation. Hopefully, Texas will join the long list of states that have rejected such initiatives.

But what is so wrong with this little resolution. Here are just a few reasons.

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Redistricting the less painful way

by: Kathi Thomas

Sat Jul 01, 2006 at 02:04 PM CDT

(Kathi Thomas is running for State Senate in SD-25, covering all of Hays county among others. - promoted by Damon McCullar)

Redistricting is all in the news now. According to the Supreme Court, it is apparently fine to redistrict for no other reason than political, so the precedent set by the Republicans & Tom Delay in Texas could be something that will be an expensive nightmare every time power changes in any state…or, we could have a nonpartisan redistricting panel, as they do in Iowa. http://www.fairvote.org/redistricting/reports/remanual/ia.htm

The way it works in Iowa is this: “The legislature has the final responsibility for enacting both congressional and state legislative district plans, but the nonpartisan Legislative Services Bureau has initial responsibility. It must develop up to three plans that can be accepted or rejected by the legislature. The plans are criteria-driven, meaning that the bureau draws districts based on clear, measurable criteria.

The four criteria, in descending order of importance are: 1) population equality; 2) contiguity; 3) unity of counties and cities (maintaining county lines and “nesting” house districts within senate districts and senate districts within congressional districts); and 4) compactness. A five-member commission consisting of four civilian members chosen by each caucus in the legislature, and a fifth chairperson chosen by the commission, is responsible for advising the bureau, but only upon their request. If the legislature does not approve the first three plans by the bureau, it must itself approve a plan by September 1st, or the state Supreme Court will take responsibility for the state districts. The Governor has veto power over both plans.”

According to Gov. Vlisack, they just load this information into a computer, and the maps come out- there is no gerrymandering. He says this nonpartisan bureau has resulted in very competitive districts- both their house and senate are very nearly evenly divided by party-meaning that most governing comes from the center, or moderates, rather than by the far right or far left. That means that the government actually represents the views of the majority of their citizens.

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