Washington, D.C.- Third District Representative Walter B. Jones today joined Congressman Jack Kingston in calling on leaders at all colleges and universities to adopt an Academic Bill of Rights. Congressman Jones is an original cosponsor of the legislation, which encourages university and college officials to even out the imbalance between liberal and conservative influences in higher education.

Statistics have shown that while campus funds are available for distribution to all on-campus organizations, funding is doled out to organizations with leftist agendas by a ratio of 50:1. Such biased financing results in a deluge of liberal speakers being invited to step up to their soapboxes far more often than those with a Conservative bent. While colleges and universities are expected to extend an unprejudiced form of higher education, today's liberal collegiate leaders are denying our students an objective curriculum.

"The goal of the Academic Bill of Rights is to return impartiality to our campuses. There is no place for partisan politics in higher education, especially when it influences the mind-set of students. Students go to college to learn and make independent, educated decisions. Incorporating an Academic Bill of Rights in our colleges will help ensure public education is not clouded by partisan curriculum," Congressman Jones said today. "This legislation is needed because you cannot get a good education only hearing one side of the story. Numerous times I have heard from my constituents in Eastern North Carolina who are tired of the liberal bias on the University of North Carolina campuses. How can we expect our state's Universities to rise to the highest echelon of education if they refuse to offer unbiased instruction? I am proud to stand as a cosponsor of this important legislation in the hopes that we can create a fair playing field within our universities."

Congressman Jones attended the press conference to introduce the bill with an intern from his Washington office, Joe Jones. Joe is a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a school which Joe claims is consistently intimidating conservatives into silence. Speaking at today's press conference Joe said, "I learned and understood that college and universities are places where open dialogue and critical thinking help students develop into a whole person. My confusion is this: why do these universities chastise and stifle the growth of those opinions now just because that they don't agree with them?"

For additional information or to schedule an interview with Congressman Jones contact Lanier Swann at (202) 225-3415 or via email at lanier.swann@mail.house.gov.