The following is an excerpt from The Daily Kos:
Iowa State Sen. Mark Chelgren (R) has introduced a bill requiring “partisan balance” among the faculty of public universities. In what may be the worst state bill (not specifically aimed at women) so far this year, the bill would require faculty to state their party affiliation before being hired.
Of course, the end game is to have fewer Democrats influencing those young minds. From the Iowa Starting Line Blog:
"The legislation proposes that a 'person shall not be hired as a professor or instructor member of the faculty at such an institution if the person’s political party affiliation on the date of hire would cause the percentage of faculty belonging to one political party to exceed by ten percent the percentage of faculty belonging to the other political party.'
The Secretary of State’s office would be directed to provide voter registration lists to the colleges so that new job applicants’ party affiliation could be checked before the hiring process gets underway. Graciously, Chelgren allows for people registered as No Party to slip through the process without facing the litmus test.
The obvious impact and purpose of this bill would be to ban Democrats from getting hired anymore at Iowa colleges. If you took a survey right now, it’s highly likely that Iowa professors are registered as Democrats at a much higher rate than Republican. So any new hires would be strictly limited to Republican or No Party voters."
No, this is not a joke.