Can We No Longer Discuss Tax Policy in Class in Ohio?

The local media reports that a bill was introduced in the Ohio Senate last week "to prohibit instructors at public or private universities from 'persistently' discussing controversial issues in class or from using their classes to push political, ideological, religious or anti-religious views."  Yikes -- we spent the better part of our first Estate & Gift Tax class this semester debating the pros and cons of the estate tax.  Is that a verboten "controversial" and/or "political" topic?

The Ohio legislation was introduced by Larry Mumper, a Republican, who claimed that "many professors undermine the values of their students because '80% or so of them (professors) are Democrats, liberals or socialists or card-carrying Communists' who attempt to indoctrinate students. 'These are young minds that haven’t had a chance to form their own opinions,' Mumper said. 'Our colleges and universities are still filled with some of the ’60s and ’70s profs that were the anti-American group. They’ve gotten control of how to give people tenure and so the colleges continue to move in this direction.'"

The bill is patterned after the Academic Bill of Rights championed by David Horowitz.