Penn State literature professor Michael Berubé discussed the importance of academic freedom yesterday -- calling it "the cornerstone of a free society."

Speaking before about 50 people in Foster Auditorium, Berubé criticized state legislation in academic freedom.

Berubé said bills are being introduced in the name of academic freedom without a clear idea of what academic freedom is.

He said academic freedom refers to students and teachers being able to openly voice their personal opinions and views in the classroom.

He brought up three specific instances of legislation in 20 states involving academic freedom, including Pennsylvania House Resolution 177(H. Res. 177) passed last July.

According to the Pennsylvania's General Assembly's Web site, H. Res. 177 established a committee to look at academic atmosphere and instances of faculty bias at state-owned and state-related universities in Pennsylvania.

Berubé said people he knows working on the resolution have described it as "uneventful" and "a waste of time."

Berubé also discussed accusations that liberal professors dominate university campuses.

He briefly mentioned the recent news of 13 reported claims of faculty bias at Penn State, but said there doesn't seem to be a flood of students complaining about liberal professors.

In response to the claim that liberal professors greatly outnumber conservatives, Berubé examined studies that gave the political party affiliations of university professors.

He cited a survey given by the Higher Education Research Institute that included approximately 450 universities and 55,000 professors and found that 48 percent of university professors were registered democrats, 18 percent were registered republicans and 34 percent described themselves as middle-of-the-road.

He said this does not correspond with other information, when contrasted.

However, if you compare these statistics to a Harris Poll published in March 2005, Berubé said, about 18 percent of Americans align themselves with the liberal philosophy.

"Campuses are teeming with liberal faculty when compared across the country," Berubé said.

Berubé said he believes there should be legitimate competing beliefs in college classrooms, including views from both conservative and liberal viewpoints.

Chair of Library Faculty Jackie Esposito said the importance of understanding academic freedom was a reason for holding the lecture.

"Students have a problem understanding the scope of the definition of academic freedom," she said.

Berubé's lecture will be available for viewing online at http://live.libraries.psu. edu/mediasite/viewer/ for the next 30 days.

Those interested should use the keyword 'foster,' and the password 'libraries' to access the presentation.