The University of Hawaii has a goal of a closer link between research and teaching. Many faculty members enjoy teaching undergrads and most of us teach graduate students, but teaching and independent thought may become harder if a bill in the state Senate sees the light of day.

The Senate Higher Education chair will be hearing Senate Bill 2328 this Tuesday at 1:15 pm. The bill states (with bold added):

The bill raises many questions:

1. Who decides what material will be available and of sufficient quality to be included in “the open educational resources at the University of Hawaii”? 
2. Who pays to collect and maintain/update such material?
3. This offers a ripe opportunity for special interest groups to advance their agendas by producing material that is “free.”
4. This “prohibits” the faculty from having our students subscribe to Hawaii’s press as part of their courses.
5. This takes away the right of instructors to choose their own material and forces us to use material we may know is shoddy, misleading and just plain wrong, but is all there is because it is “free”.
6. Many of us teach courses where there is not much relevant “open educational material.” We are expected to produce such material for free? With what help and what free time?

This bill is a very strong disincentive to teach. It will politicize the university and the control of course content will go to those external forces with the deepest pockets.

Academic excellence? Not so much. Probably not at all.

Availability of course material will be determined by people who don’t have to teach and who are likely to have too much to curate to delve deeply into content or to consult with those who do teach.

I am sure this is all a misunderstanding and I will awaken Thursday with the bill dead and the Legislature asking how they can help UH, not bury it.