This Texas Tribune article gives a useful overview of the mischief afoot; here are the three main legislative initiatives:
A bill filed Friday in the Texas Senate would prohibit public colleges and universities from awarding tenure to professors hired after September, legislation that critics have said would make it extremely difficult for the state to recruit top faculty and negatively impact the reputation of its higher education institutions.
The bill, filed by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, is one of three pieces of legislation in Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s list of priorities for higher education this session.
Creighton also filed a bill that would prohibit Texas’ higher education institutions from considering diversity, equity and inclusion when hiring new employees. The third bill, filed by Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, would prohibit faculty members from teaching that any race, ethnicity, sex or political belief is "inherently superior to another."
Only the second bill would actually promote academic freedom; the fact that it keeps company with the other two bills makes clear that academic freedom and free expression are not the goals at all: the goal is to suppress perceived "liberalism" in the universities, the First Amendment be damned.
The proposal to eliminate tenure for future hires does indicate that the enemies of higher education were advised about breach of contract. Legally, they can eliminate tenure for new hires. This will destroy all the public universities in Texas, especially the public research institutions. The tenured faculty who can leave will leave, since they won't be able to hire the best junior faculty any longer. Someone needs to explain to the Texas Repugs that tenure is an important form of non-monetary compensation, and if you don't offer it, you will need to offer a lot more to hire highly qualified faculty. Alas, I don't think anyone can be confidence that the legislators in question have a conception of "highly qualified" faculty. Perhaps the many powerful alumni of UT Austin and Texas A&M will be able to convince the know-nothings what is at stake.
The proposal to prohibit faculty from teaching that any race, ethnicity, sex, or political belief is "inherently superior to another" will be struck down on First Amendment grounds as unconstitutionally vague. What the heck does it mean? Does it mean economics professors cannot teach that Democrats are wrong about the minimum wage? That political science professors cannot teach that Republicans are wrong about the invasion of Iraq? That biologists cannot teach about sex-based differences? That Yale sociologist Elijah Anderson cannot write about the norms governing young African-American men in urban "ghettos"?
The real significance of this is that it makes very clear the Florida poison of Viktor DeSantis is spreading. One may hope the courts stand firm.
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