The below testimony was presented by Legislative Chair Troy Swanson to the Illinois House Education Committee on March 5 in support of HB 1859 which would defend our colleges against artificial intelligence by ensuing classes are taught by qualified human instructors, not AI. Defending public education from the threat of AI continues to be one of our union's legislative priorities for 2025. Troy is continuing to track this legislation and will be reaching out to members if more action or support is needed.
Statement in Support of HB 1859
Illinois House Higher Education Committee
Presented by: Troy Swanson, PhD, MLIS,
On Behalf of the Cook County College Teachers Union
Chairperson and Members of the Committee,
My name is Troy Swanson, and I serve as the Legislative Chair for the Cook County College Teachers Union, representing faculty across the 14 community colleges in Cook County serving nearly 100,000 students annually. I am writing in strong support of HB 1859, introduced by Representative Abdelnasser Rashid, which ensures that courses offered at our community colleges are taught by qualified human instructors, not artificial intelligence.
At its core, higher education is about more than just transferring information—it is about engaging students in the ongoing conversations and debates that define our disciplines. Whether in the sciences, humanities, or technical fields, faculty are not just transmitters of static knowledge but active contributors to their disciplines, shaping and evolving their fields through research, critical inquiry, and professional practice.
When students enroll in a college course, they are not merely consumers of pre-packaged knowledge; they are participants in an academic enterprise built on discourse, analysis, and meaning-making. They engage with instructors who are part of a dynamic and evolving body of scholarship—professionals who bring their expertise, ongoing research, and disciplinary insights into the classroom. This intellectual engagement is essential to the educational process, and it is something artificial intelligence, by its very nature, cannot provide.
AI models, including generative AI, are trained on previously published work. They are, by design, backward-looking, drawing from what has already been said rather than contributing new thought, critique, or discovery. They do not generate knowledge; they recombine existing patterns. They are not part of the scholarly communities that push the boundaries of knowledge in every discipline, and they cannot mentor students into these conversations.
For this reason, HB 1859 is not simply about employment protections for faculty—it is about preserving the fundamental nature of higher education. If we allow AI to replace faculty, we are not just replacing a delivery mechanism; we are severing students from the living intellectual traditions of their fields. We are reducing education to information retrieval rather than knowledge creation.
This bill is not about rejecting technology; it is about affirming the role of faculty as the stewards of intellectual discovery and student development. AI can be a useful tool in education, but it cannot replace the essential human role of educators who foster dialogue, critique, and innovation.
I urge you to support HB 1859 to protect the integrity of Illinois’ community college education and to ensure that students continue to learn from experts who are engaged in the evolving conversations of their disciplines.