Question A:
The bill that I think you are referring to is the "International Studies in Higher Education Act of 2003". Here's a summary of the bill.
Here's a more critical summary can be found at the Project Censored web site.
The whole bill can be found by on
Thomas, official congressional records on the Library of Congress' web site. In the search box, type: International Studies in Higher Education Act of 2003
A search of Academic Search Premier (a commercial database available at many academic and large public libraries) revealed a few promising articles. Below are few.
- More Restrictions for Mideast Studies Seen With New Language for Grant Conditions. By: Turpen, Bill L.. Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Jul/Aug2004, Vol. 23 Issue 6, p75, 1p; (AN 13595709)
- The Wisdom Will Survive. By: Smith, Mark F.. Academe, Jan/Feb2004, Vol. 90 Issue 1, p93
Question B:
It appears that David Horowitz is the key figure behind a proposal called the "Academic Bill of Rights". This is the main "affirmative action for conservative professors" that I came across. He has sent the bill to state legislators in Colorado and Georgia, among other states. There are a lot of
articles about the "Academic Bill of Rights" on
Horowitz's web site which support his position. Horowitz also has an online magazine Front Page
A quick online search revealed a few news articles:
Taking a right turn on campus, By Justin Pope, ASSOCIATED PRESS.
Who's Looking Out for Campus Conservatives?, by John Plecnik. Toronto Free Press, January 14, 2005
Conservatives take up academic-freedom cause, USA Today, December 26, 2004.
As far as scholarly work on the subject goes, I was able to find several articles in the Academic Search Premier database. All of the material was news coverage and was not peer reviewed. Here are few articles that looked promising.
- GOP Looks to Put Its Mark on Higher Education. By: Brainard, Jeffrey; Burd, Stephen; Field, Kelly; Fischer, Karin; Selingo, Jeffrey. Chronicle of Higher Education, 11/12/2004, Vol. 51 Issue 12, pA10, 3p, 7c
- Worried on the Right and the Left. By: Klein, Alyson; Burd, Stephen. Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/9/2004, Vol. 50 Issue 44, pA21, 2p, 2c
- The Contradictions of Cultural Conservatismin the Assault on American Colleges. By: Lazere, Donald. Chronicle of Higher Education, 7/2/2004, Vol. 50 Issue 43, pB15, 2p
- Lawmakers Consider Charges of Political Bias on Campus. Academe, Jul/Aug2004, Vol. 90 Issue 4, p9, 2p
I also looked in the Lexis-Nexis data base and found 52 articles about the "Academic Bill of Rights". There was a lot coverage in Denver papers because Colorado was a state in which the legislation was introduced to the state house. It was also the site of campus incidents that gained national
attention. These two articles looked to be good introductions to the subject.
- The New York Times, April 3, 2004 Saturday, Late Edition - Final, Section B; Column 5; Arts & Ideas/Cultural Desk; Pg. 9, 1171 words, Taking the Liberalism Out of Liberal Arts, By YILU ZHAO
- USA TODAY, March 17, 2004, Wednesday,, FINAL EDITION, LIFE;, Pg. 7D, 540 words, Proposed 'academic bill of rights' makes inroads in handful of states, Mary Beth Marklein
If you are after other newspaper articles, it would be wise to contact a public or academic library that has newspaper databases like National Newspaper Index or Lexis Academic.
There appear to be many articles on this topic.
Question C:
There are different kinds of information on "protest warriors". If you want news articles I would suggest
searching Lexis-Nexis or Pro Quest databases (available at academic or large public libraries, or by library ID card remote access). If you are more interested in scholarly work, I would look at Academic Search Premier. Or, if you have a very specific idea any social science index would be good to search. People have written whole books about social movements, so you will probably have to do bit of looking around for the information that you want about young activists.
Thanks
Jonny Cope
