Iowa senator proposes bill decried as 'political litmus test’ for universities

State senator Mark Chelgren says measure to require public schools
to use voter registration when considering job applicants is attempt
to counter liberal slant

David Steen Martin in Nebraska
Thursday 23 February 2017 17.14 GMT

Iowa’s public universities would need to consider political party affiliation when hiring new faculty members, under a bill proposed by a Republican state senator.

State senator Mark Chelgren said the measure was an attempt to counter the liberal slant at the state’s three public universities.

“My goal isn’t to eliminate speech on the other side of the equation, but we have to have balanced speech,” said Chelgren, from Ottumwa.

Under SF 288, the universities would use voter registration information when considering job applicants, and could not make any hire that would cause declared Democrats or Republicans on the faculty to outnumber the other party by more than 10%.

Veronica Fowler, communications director for the ACLU of Iowa, called the bill “extreme”.

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