And they’re using the state’s $2.2-billion budget shortfall to justify it. So says AP:
State Rep. Charlice Byrd of Woodstock took the House well on Friday to announce a “grass-roots” effort to oust professors with expertise in subjects like male prostitution, oral sex and “queer theory.”
“This is not considered higher education,” she said. “If legislators are going to dole out the dollars, we should have a say-so in where they go.”
Byrd and her supporters, including state Rep. Calvin Hill, said they will team with the Christian Coalition and other religious groups to pressure fellow lawmakers and the Board of Regents to eliminate the jobs.
“Our job is to educate our people in sciences, business, math,” said Hill, a vice chairman of the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee. He said professors aren’t going to meet those needs “by teaching a class in queer theory.”
A university spokesperson called the critics’ argument “flawed” noting, “Teaching courses in criminal justice, for example, does not mean that our students are being prepared to become criminals.”
Southern Voice’s Laura Douglas-Brown pointed out last week that Hill got his information from Georgia State’s “experts guide,” not a course roster. Georgia State does not teach courses on male prostitution and oral sex:
This is a stubborn and intentional misrepresentation designed to inflame and pander to conservative voters.
“Queer theory,” while great for said inflaming and pandering, is not as titillating as it sounds. Like many academic schools of thought, it’s wonky and dense — fascinating or boring depending on your leaning, but hardly scandalizing. It’s also an accepted, legitimate area of study at colleges and universities around the country.
Gutting academic freedom and making professors live in fear that every research project will be scrutinized by the Georgia General Assembly will not help the state economy — instead, it could cause serious damage for years to come. The state’s University System will be unable to attract top-notch faculty, and will thus lose top-notch students too. The last thing our struggling economy needs is a brain drain on our best and brightest researchers and future workers.