The Kansas Board of Regents recently put the kibosh on open thinking.  A new social media policy within  University of Kansas institutions restricts “improper use of social media” and the posting of material “contrary to the best interest of the university.”  Better put, if your superior doesn’t like how you think, you could be out of a job.

This reminds me of Rhode Island where it was recently mandated by the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline that physicians should avoid saying things that could be misunderstood at the risk of losing their medical license.

(The further along we get with social media the more it feels like 2008 all over again.)

Institutions are charged with balancing reputation and brand with the cultivation of an environment conductive to open thinking.  Admittedly, it isn’t easy.  But the black and white legislation of human dialog is impossible.  And open-ended, Draconian restrictions like this represent the first step in putting traditional higher education on the fast track to irrelevancy.