A proposed federal bill that could create an advisory board to monitor international studies programs at universities has some faculty worried about the implications of government influence.
The bill, which passed the House in October and now awaits Senate consideration, includes a provision seeking to establish an advisory board of political appointees to analyze the way international studies are taught and make recommendations to the administration if a problem is perceived.
The provision could affect any university and college program funded under Title VI of the Higher Education Act, which provides financial support for such programs. The overall bill is part of the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.
International Studies Assistant Professor Stephen Wooten said the board was proposed last summer when certain political leaders raised concerns that some programs taught anti-American sentiments and did not serve the interests of the Bush administration.
“It’s certainly not true, but that’s what they were perceiving,” Wooten said.
In October, Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee, said the bill is important for maintaining “critical international and foreign language programs,” according to a press release from the Office of Governmental Affairs.
“Now, more than at virtually any other time in our history, we must understand our national interests and security concerns within an international context,” he said. “We do not live in a vacuum, and our higher education system must reflect this.”
Wooten said the purpose of an
international studies program is to increase international understanding.
“By design, that’s what the program is supposed to do,” he said. “Our goal is really to enrich the American perspective.”
He added that those who support implementing the board likely do not support international studies in general.
“The people who are the most reactionary are people who don’t want other perspectives,” he said.
Although the University’s International Studies Program is not funded under Title VI, a portion of it could be soon.
Wooten said he has applied for a grant under Title VI, which would be used to enhance African studies at the University.
But Wooten said the advisory board, if it is created, will have limited power, and therefore he is not worried about his grant being approved or future studies being influenced.
However, the University’s National Foreign Language Resource Center does receive most of its funding under Title VI, said Carl Falsgraf, director of the Center for Applied Second Language Studies. But because the program focuses primarily on language, it would probably not be targeted by the proposed advisory board.
“It’s unlikely that it would have a practical effect on us, but it could,” Falsgraf said. “As a language resource center, we only deal with language. We don’t directly deal with political and social issues.”
Falsgraf said national resource centers, which deal with area studies, may be targeted more by the board because they study other matters besides language.
Junior Judith Friedman said she thinks international studies programs are important tools for allowing students to gain broader perspectives.
“I think it would be horrible if there were a committee that was censoring professors’ material,” she said.
Friedman said she understands that some consider teaching curriculum a sensitive issue, especially at schools like the University, where professors in the program tend to be more liberal.
“I think that it’s hard to talk about that area of study without establishing some kind of bias,” she said.
While Wooten said initial concerns about the government trying to control programs are subsiding, he is troubled that the issue was raised in the first place.
“I’m concerned about it on a broader level,” he said.
Wooten said the University is “well-positioned” in the debate of international studies and that it is a popular program on campus, both for students and faculty.
“They eat it up,” he said. “They want to enrich the perspectives they have.”