PRESS RELEASE - Lawrence, KS 
by Christine Robinson, University of Kansas

On Friday, February 20, the Regents Office in Kansas city faxed a memo to
all Regents institutions of higher education in the state of Kansas
(Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, KSU, KU, Pittsburg
State University, Wichita State University, and Washburn University)
asking for a list of courses which contain content directly related to the
subjects of homosexuality and bisexuality.  An unknown Kansas legislator
or legislators submitted the request for this information anonymously to
the office of Legislative Research.  The intent behind this request is not
known; however, the anonymity of the request and the similarity of such
requests in the past in the states of Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska
(from their state legislatures) lead most people to conclude that the
reqeust is not being made by someone interested in creating a sexuality
studies program or any other educational purpose; but rather, is motivated
by less enlightening objectives.  Many have speculated that this may be
the preliminary stages of legislation designed to impinge upon academic
freedom or may be used to deny promotions and/or tenure to faculty members
who include these subjects in their courses. While universities have
varied in their approaches to complying with this request, all of KS
institutions have made clear that they will not tolerate any attempts by
the legislature or anyone else to compromise the academic freedom of their
faculty members or graduate instructors. This story is chronicled in both
local and national media - The Chronicle of Higher Education, The
Advocate, The Kansas City Star, The Lawrence Journal World, the Topeka
Capital Journal, The University Daily Kansan, the Collegiate (KSU), and
Liberty Press all either have published or are working on articles. For
more information on the event, Mike Silverman of the Lawrence Freedom
Coalition has created a homepage with the history and the latest breaking
news on this situation:  http://www.turnleft.com/witchhunt/