CT Bill Shields College Syllabi from FOIA

0:00Connecticut lawmakers are pushing House Bill number 5550 to shield course syllabi at public colleges and universities from freedom of information act requests. If it passes, no one outside the classroom could access these documents and schools wouldn't store them on public servers anymore. The bill popped up back in March and targets spots like the University of Connecticut. This move comes amid rising national pressure on professors and their classes with groups firing off FOIA requests for syllabi tied to hot button. Topics like ones involving Chinese nationals. Supporters worry public access invites harassment and turns teaching materials into political ammo. Professors backing the bill say FOIA was never meant to dig into teaching records anyway and they've testified that it protects their work from being twisted or targeted. Meanwhile places like New Jersey, Rhode Island, Maryland, and Virginia already have rules carving out exemptions for academic stuff. Critics push back hard arguing syllabi have always been

1:03out there without major drama and hiding them now just breeds more suspicion. They call these docs basic admin tools that help students pick classes and keep faculty accountable not some secret intellectual property. The bill's a slimmer take on failed tries from earlier this year and it just sailed through the government administration and elections committee. Now it's up for the full legislature with a possible start date of October 1st if it makes it through. This has been Hartford News today powered by AI. I'm Cory with the story.