A proposal to require North Dakota's Board of Higher Education to develop an English fluency policy for instructors was approved in the state Senate, despite arguments that it could apply to some regions of the state itself.

Some instructors speak accented English that is harder to understand, and surveys of students have detected some complaints, said Sen. Tim Flakoll, R-Fargo.

"I don't know that when you have a customer, that you should say that they are wrong and we are right," Flakoll said. "I think it's worth looking at again … There's been a lot of things that have been done to really make this better in the past 10 years, but we need to keep it on the forefront."

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Bette Grande, R-Fargo, orders the board to write a policy on how to assess college instructors' communications skills, "including the ability to speak English clearly and with good pronunciation," and on handling student complaints.

As introduced, the measure would have allowed students to drop classes and demand tuition refunds if they claimed they couldn't understand their instructor.

An instructor would have been reassigned if enough students griped.

Senators voted 26-19 on Monday to approve the bill. It now goes to Gov. John Hoeven for his review.

Sen. Carolyn Nelson, D-Fargo, a longtime math lecturer at NDSU, said foreign instructors in her department were not allowed into the classroom until they passed an oral English exam.

"Very often, we run into people that we have to listen to a little bit harder. You know, they might be from Alabama," Nelson said. "They might be from south of (Bismarck), where they have a German-Russian accent. You might just have to listen a little harder, and in some cases, these kids might just have to go to class a little more often."

Sen. David Nething, R-Jamestown, said he considered the bill to be an intrusion into a matter best left to the Board of Higher Education and university administrators.

"I don't think we should be here telling somebody … what our expectations are of a faculty member," Nething said. "I think … the university system board can make that decision."

The bill is HB1364.