(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has passed a bill that calls for faculty and students at the three state universities to be trained each year about free speech rights. Republican Representative Dustin Hite of New Sharon says the bill is in response to three high-profile incidents in which the views of conservative students at Iowa, Iowa State and U-N-I were dismissed or denigrated.

The board that governs the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa has already adopted the provisions of the bill as policy for the three schools. Hite says it’s not the job of the universities to tell students what to think — but to give them the tools to decide for themselves. “The reason free speech is so important in the world of education is that’s when our young folks of this state are developing their own thoughts and ideas,” Hite says.

The bill passed on a 97-to-one vote. Representative Christina Bohannan, a Democrat from Iowa City, is a University of Iowa professor. She says the university’s faculty senate considers free speech central to the educational process. “When it comes to the First Amendment, we have to take the long view,” Bohannan said. “Today, it’s mostly conservatives we hear arguing for free speech, but in the ’50s and ’60s it was the liberals — civil rights activists and Vietnam protesters — that pushed for First Amendment rights.”

Representative Jennifer Konfrst, a Democrat from Windsor Heights, is a Drake University professor. “What I do is force students to think critically, whether they’re conservative or liberal,” Konfrst says, “and this bill allows for that to happen in every classroom across the state.” The bill would apply the same free speech policies at the state’s community colleges that are proposed for the public universities.

The lone “no” on the vote came from Representative Dave Jacoby, a Democrat from Coralville. He says the bill is not needed to protect free speech and doesn’t open new doors for those who want to practice their First Amendment rights.