ROBERT STEINBUCH: Higher ed oversight |
State Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Jonesboro)--chair of the Higher Education Subcommittee to the General Assembly's Legislative Council--introduced three higher-education funding bills during this fiscal session.
Sullivan proposed barring state agencies from distributing monies, public or private, to the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville's King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies--seeking "to end the King Fahd Center." (Recall my reporting on this anti-Western indoctrination factory over the last two years.)
Sullivan withdrew this legislation for now--opting instead to hold hearings: "I plan to hear testimony, review financials, submissions and operations in the coming months," as well as possible violations of state law, among other things, Sullivan said.
Sullivan told The Jonesboro Sun that he believes the Middle Eastern Center has violated a number of state laws, including the governor's executive order prohibiting the indoctrination of students. He intends to meet again with UA-Fayetteville officials to work together on balancing the curriculum and looking at how courses are taught.
2. Middle East Studies Association:
Sullivan proposed prohibiting any state-supported higher-education institution from providing funds to the Middle East Studies Association, which endorsed the destructive Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel in March 2022. Arkansas enacted anti-BDS legislation in 2017. Sullivan withdrew this proposal, intending to include the issue in his aforedescribed hearings instead.
Sullivan seeks to prohibit the University of Arkansas-Little Rock's William H. Bowen School of Law from establishing an online degree. This paper's description of Sullivan's proposal recounted that:
Law school dean Colin Crawford raised the online idea last year to faculty, a majority of whom then voted in favor;
Current students, faculty, alumni, and others began raising concerns about an online shift last summer;
Results of survey questions distributed by the school revealed significant opposition to moving online. After........