Via Alas, a Blog:

Odds are you haven't heard of Title VI of the International Studies in Higher Education Act of 2003 - but if it passes the Senate, it'll be an enourmous loss for academic freedom and free speech.

It already passed the House last fall (it's bill number is H.R. 3077 - follow that link and then click on "printer friendly display" to read the bill's text), and is expected to come up in the Senate soon. If it becomes law, what Title VI will do is creat an "International Higher Education Board," which will review International Studies programs at universities and reccomend to the Secretary of Education and Congress which programs should continue getting grants.

According to Stanley Kurtz, a proponant of Title VI,

"An overall supervisory board for Title VI should include appointees from key branches of government concerned with education and international affairs, along with public appointees named by the White House (former ambassadors, business leaders, heads of think tanks, etc.). The board’s purpose would be to oversee the work of the area selection panels, and to make certain that, over and above questions of peer review, due consideration was given to the national interest."

So goverment appointees will review academic programs to decide if they're patriotic enough to continue recieving funding. So much for free speech.

Once there's a precedent, it's not that big a leap to move from "overseeing" funding for International Studies programs to doing the same thing for all potentially threatening Humanities programs.