Professors would have to offer alternative assignments to students who find course materials offensive, under proposed state legislation.
Senate Bill 1331 would let students at state universities and community colleges receive alternate work without academic penalty if their regular assignments conflict with personal moral and religious beliefs.
The Senate Rules Committee is scheduled to consider the bill today. It was passed by the Higher-Education Committee last month.
Karen Bruhn, a professor in the Barrett Honors College at ASU, said the bill was so broad it could consider almost any work objectionable.
"What is offensive to one person is clearly not offensive to somebody else," Bruhn said.
Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, a bill co-sponsor, said the legislation could be modified to narrow the definition of what is considered offensive.
"I agree with the general principle of the bill," Harper added.
The legislation was inspired by a student at Chandler-Gilbert Community College, said Bill Mullaney, the student's former professor.
The student protested reading "The Ice Storm," a novel by Rick Moody, in a modern U.S. literature and film course last semester.
The novel's explicit depictions of sex include a wife-swapping party, Mullaney added.
He said the student could have dropped the class the first week after reading the syllabus, which listed assigned novels.
"I was not going to provide him with an alternative assignment," he said.
The student then filed a grievance with the college that was later rejected.
Mullaney said the student finally withdrew from his class after a meeting between state legislators and the college president left the issue unresolved.
Carol Hughes, spokeswoman for ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said the bill could restrict the freedom of students and professors to explore different ideas.
"It would prohibit us from doing what a university does," Hughes said.
Hughes said ASU has informal grievance procedures that allow students to protest course content, first with professors and then with department administration.
Student objections would be handled on a case-by-case basis, she said
CLAS hasn't received any complaints about assignments in several semesters, Hughes added.
Bruhn said some readings she assigns might be considered offensive, but no students have ever complained.
These texts include parts of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, read in her human event class.
If every student in a course objected to a book and received alternative assignments, it would be impossible to teach that class, Bruhn added.
"Students can't discuss the text," she added.
This may lead to a form of self-censorship among professors where they don't assign any text students might consider remotely objectionable, Bruhn added.
English literature junior Andrew Wilson said he couldn't decide if he supported the proposed legislation or not.
Wilson said students exposed to information they thought was wrong, such as the theory of evolution, shouldn't have to learn it.
But students should also screen a course's content to decide if it might upset them, he added.
"It's silly to take an offensive course knowing the material is offensive," Wilson said.
Art senior Holly Rummler said she opposed the bill because outside the classroom no one can defend students from potentially controversial opinions.
"I would rather face [them] in the community where my teacher is guiding me than out in the real world," Rummler said.
Reach the reporter at grayson.steinberg@asu.edu.
