Penn State spokesman Annemarie Mountz said Penn State does not plan to change its policies regarding academic freedom.

"We're already in compliance with most of the recommendations that were made," she said. "There's really not any reason to change the good work that we're already doing."

Following a decision that legislation enforcing academic freedom at Pennsylvania public universities is unnecessary, the Select Committee on Academic Freedom in Higher Education recommended that universities review their existing policies to ensure that students are aware of their rights and the have the ability to file complaints.

According to a report released by the Associated Press Tuesday, the recommendations are as follows:

-Public colleges and universities should review existing academic-freedom policies to ensure that students understand their rights and grievance procedures.

-Schools should provide information about academic-freedom policies and grievance procedures to students during orientation and make the information available in the "student" section of their Web sites.

-Schools should allow students to file complaints with a university official outside the student's degree program, preferably by using an existing office that handles student diversity issues.

-Schools should include questions related to academic freedom on anonymous course-evaluation forms.

-Schools should maintain records of academic-freedom complaints.

-Schools shall submit reports on actions taken in response to recommendations to leaders of the House Subcommittee on Higher Education no later than Nov. 1, 2008.

Check tomorrow's Collegian for the full story.