Historically, the curricula of colleges and universities have been the responsibility of the faculty, with broad oversight by the administration. Governing boards can play a constructive role by standing firmly on the side of academic study in which no part of society is whitewashed out of the picture. LGBT individuals, despite their contributions and participation in society, have often been invisible in many academic disciplines, including history, sociology, law, religion, and many others.
That is changing swiftly. Across the country, universities and colleges are offering more courses that examine such disciplines from the perspective of sexual minorities where that is relevant. Quite simply, academic integrity means governing boards should not tarnish their institutions by seeking to force their views about acceptable areas of study, including proscribing courses with LGBT subject matter.
Higher education institutions are enriched by encouraging the latest scholarship from all points of view, including the important contributions made by and about LGBT people. In diverse subjects such as psychology, business, sociology, history, literature, political science, law, and anthropology, researchers produce important works with an LGBT focus every year. I know, anecdotally from discussions with young scholars, that a new generation of emerging LGBT academics will devote their careers to these studies and to remedying the past widespread exclusion of the LGBT experience from academic study.
By no means does that mean an end to conflict and opposition in some quarters that remain obdurate or resistant to LGBT inclusion and free academic inquiry. Earlier this year, for instance, South Carolina legislators voted to cut support for two state universities specifically because they included LGBT-themed books in their required reading for freshmen. Such political censorship is a modern metaphor for the kinds of repression and historic blacklisting that many marginalized people have experienced in academe and society—and is the hallmark of a backward-looking rather than forward-looking educational system.
Historically, the curricula of colleges and universities have been the responsibility of the faculty, with broad oversight by the administration. Governing boards can play a constructive role by standing firmly on the side of academic study in which no part of society is whitewashed out of the picture. LGBT individuals, despite their contributions and participation in society, have often been invisible in many academic disciplines, including history, sociology, law, religion, and many others.That is changing swiftly. Across the country, universities and colleges are offering more courses that examine such disciplines from the perspective of sexual minorities where that is relevant. Quite simply, academic integrity means governing boards should not tarnish their institutions by seeking to force their views about acceptable areas of study, including proscribing courses with LGBT subject matter.Higher education institutions are enriched by encouraging the latest scholarship from all points of view, including the important contributions made by and about LGBT people. In diverse subjects such as psychology, business, sociology, history, literature, political science, law, and anthropology, researchers produce important works with an LGBT focus every year. I know, anecdotally from discussions with young scholars, that a new generation of emerging LGBT academics will devote their careers to these studies and to remedying the past widespread exclusion of the LGBT experience from academic study.By no means does that mean an end to conflict and opposition in some quarters that remain obdurate or resistant to LGBT inclusion and free academic inquiry. Earlier this year, for instance, South Carolina legislators voted to cut support for two state universities specifically because they included LGBT-themed books in their required reading for freshmen. Such political censorship is a modern metaphor for the kinds of repression and historic blacklisting that many marginalized people have experienced in academe and society—and is the hallmark of a backward-looking rather than forward-looking educational system.
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