Over? Did you say over?

House Select Committee on Academic Freedom, we hardly knew ye.

The statewide hearings on so-called academic freedom ended yesterday with a final hearing at Harrisburg Area Community College, aka HACC. Several reps made it clear where they stand:

"It just became so blatantly obvious ... there is no problem," (Rep. Dan) Surra (D-Elk) said. "If anything came out of these hearings, it showed there is absolutely no need to do anything."

Rep. Larry Curry, D-Montgomery, said he saw value in the hearings.

"It was worthwhile to be able to document that there isn't a problem and that procedures are in place to deal with problems that do occur," Curry said.

Meanwhile, this caught my attention:

The hearings were pushed by state Rep. Gibson Armstrong, R-Lancaster, who said students have complained to him about political intimidation and discrimination in the state's public college classrooms. Armstrong lost his re-election bid in the May primary. He has been reported as attributing this issue as a contribution in his defeat. (my bold)

ACLU-PA is non-partisan, so I couldn't care less who wins and who loses elections (officially). But if being against the First Amendment is harmful to a politician's career, that's a good thing.

On a completely unrelated note, who knew that there were Democrats in Elk County?

Andy in H-burg