I'm not even sure how to headline this one.

I heard about this on a local radio station this morning and immediately went and looked for actual news articles. The basic idea is that under this legislation, MnSCU would require undergraduate instructors to speak "plain, unaccented English."

(The first thing I thought was, "Who elected my ex-boyfriend of 'but you're one of the GOOD minorities' fame to the state legislature??")

The plan is to ask the University of Minnesota to implement something similar. Putting aside for just a moment the fact that this is horribly wrong and speaking strictly from a practical perspective, I think that would be troublesome to say the least, given that the pool of qualified graduate TAs would be drastically cut.

I realize that's beside the point and that the real issue is that it's a discriminatory and immoral bill; it's just a bad idea all the way around. It's not that I am completely unsympathetic to frustrated undergrad students. It can be difficult for me to understand someone who speaks English with an accent. But that is my problem. Making it their problem and making it their problem legally is impossible to justify when one considers that the byproduct of such a policy would be the systematic disqualification of TAs or professors on the basis of ethnic or national origin. That Minnesota lawmakers would condone this is troubling to me.

The text of the article appearing in the Duluth News-Tribune is below (I don't believe their online articles are placed in a restricted archive); a link to the original Star Tribune article is at the bottom.

Bill voices concern over professors' accents

Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Instructors who want to teach at Minnesota colleges would have to prove they can speak English clearly before appearing at the head of the classroom, if a bill at the Legislature becomes law.

The bill would require schools in Minnesota State Colleges and Universities to ensure their undergraduate teachers speak plain, unaccented English. It would request the same of the University of Minnesota, which the Legislature has limited authority to regulate.

Rep. Bud Heidgerken, a former teacher and current cafe owner, said he's heard plenty from former students and employees about their struggles to understand professors with thick accents.

"I've had many students say they dropped a course or delayed graduation for a semester because they couldn't get around this one professor they couldn't understand," the Freeport Republican said. "All I'm trying to accomplish is getting the best education we have for postsecondary students."

Three states - North Dakota, Texas and Pennsylvania - have laws dealing with the English proficiency of college teachers.

MnSCU officials said few international students teach undergraduates at state colleges and universities. At the University of Minnesota, officials say international students already take a spoken language test before they are allowed to teach.

Peter Hudleston, associate dean for student affairs at the university's Institute of Technology, said comprehension problems sometimes crop up. But he said school officials warn students "they have to expect to be able to understand and converse with people from other parts of the English-speaking world. They have to be able to deal with different accents."

Travis Reindl, director of state policy analysis with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, finds the legislation troublesome.

"If we start sending a message here that if you can't speak the king's English flawlessly, we don't want you in our classrooms, that sends a message that the U.S. is not a friendly place for them," he said. "(Besides), there are parts of this country where you would swear that English is a second language based on your own background. If you took somebody from Minnesota and plunked him in Mississippi, then you might have a question."

University of Minnesota sophomore Clint Hanson, a chemical engineering major, said he's been able to adapt to most accents.

"It's tolerable," he said. "Right from the get-go it sets a bit of a learning curve, but I haven't had any detrimental experiences with it."

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Information from: Star Tribune