Leaders of the academic freedom movement have accused him of bringing political bias into the classroom. Conservative professor David Horowitz called him one of the "most dangerous academics in America."

But for Penn State sociology professor Sam Richards, it's all just good conversation.

A Pennsylvania House of Representatives committee on academic freedom released recommendations Tuesday that did not include a statewide policy protecting students from professors' political biases, which was one of the main demands of leaders of the movement.

However, Richards said he still thinks the committee was worthwhile because it promoted campus discussion on the issue.

"It's led to some constructive conversations," he said. "In the past year, I've had more conversations on teaching than I've had in my 22 years of college instruction. That's a good thing."

The state House committee on Academic Freedom in Higher Education held four hearings about academic freedom across the state from September 2005 to June. Horowitz also spoke at Penn State last spring.

Academic freedom advocates say some professors bring their own opinions into classroom discussions. According to a report released last January, there were 13 complaints of bias at Penn State over the last five years and all of them were resolved.

Instead of a statewide policy, the committee recommended universities reexamine their own policies to ensure students know their rights and can report problems with faculty members.

Penn State spokeswoman Annemarie Mountz said Penn State did not expect to change its policies in response to the recommendations.

"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."

However, Todd Taylor, College Republicans president, said it "really is a shame" that a statewide policy wasn't recommended, although he added that it was a step in the right direction that hearings had been held in the first place.

"It's important to get that view out there that there is discrimination against students with a conservative lean," he said.

Taylor said academic freedom is still an issue at Penn State, but no serious incidents had occurred yet.

"We have to wait until something happens and see how they deal with it," Taylor said.

Eliot Schmidt, College Democrats press secretary, said he was glad the committee did not recommend legislation.

"Legislation on this issue would be an unnecessary inclusion of government into the classroom," he said. "From the start, I had the opinion that this was something of a non-issue that got sensationalized."

However, as a compromise, Schmidt said the university should consider creating an outside authority for students to report complaints to.

Joanna Floros, Faculty Senate chairwoman, said data indicates academic freedom is not a problem at Penn State.

"This is a point that was laid to rest some time ago," she said. "Time can be spent better on more important issues."

The House committee did not adopt its full report on academic freedom because it lacked quorum at Tuesday's meeting. Instead, it just released the recommendations and rescheduled voting to Nov. 21.

Horowitz wrote on his Web site, www.frontpagemag.com/blog, that the full report will show that academic freedom is still an issue.

"Readers will see that it is a massive indictment of higher education in Pennsylvania, the lack of intellectual diversity, the lack of professionalism and the failure of the system to protect its students," he wrote.

Rep. Thomas L. Stevenson, R-Allegheny, the committee's chairman, was unavailable for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.