Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has announced her plans to reform higher education in Arkansas, with the support of state Sen. Jonathan Dismang and state Rep. Matthew Shepherd. The 112-page legislation aims to address funding, admissions, course credit, and scholarships. While the bill has merits, it also includes aims to combat “indoctrination” in higher education, which has been a long-standing concern for Republicans in the state. The legislation is unclear about how it will monitor classrooms for indoctrination, raising concerns about academic freedom. Governor Sanders also plans to prohibit secondary schools from authorizing student walkouts, which has been met with criticism from students. The author, Blake Rutherford, who attended three different institutions of higher learning, argues against putting professors’ employment in jeopardy based on student evaluations. He believes that higher education reform should focus on financial accessibility for students and should not be driven by performative, partisan attitudes. Rutherford encourages Arkansas’ General Assembly to focus on the core issues of education reform and to avoid getting caught up in unnecessary distractions.
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