The Lege’s ‘Big Government Intrusion’ into University Academics 

Even at Texas Woman s University whose very name shows its legacy gender studies programs face likely pushback from lawmakers Just three years ago Texas Woman s University TWU approved a new bachelor s degree campaign in Multicultural Women s and Gender Studies Danielle Phillips-Cunningham who began teaching at the university in proposed the new major as a way to bring more students into the plan amid decreases in enrollment during COVID- Phillips-Cunningham reported the undergraduate students she taught had a clear desire to major in the field The courses really do a good job of demonstrating the links between politics and people s personal lives Phillips-Cunningham disclosed Despite having in recent months downsized their department she saw the university s approval of the new degree venture as a sign of its commitment to this academic field At the time other institutions had begun to cut funding for similar programs as reactionary animus against Diversity Equity and Inclusion DEI set in I knew that I would have to craft the proposal in a way that didn t ring any alarms but was also true to what could help students reported Phillips-Cunningham who is now an associate professor at Rutgers University If proposed this day she doesn t think the degree activity would have gotten approved In the years since the effort s inception wariness or ignorance of DEI has been weaponized by Republicans in Texas and across the country as a political bludgeon to condemn and often call to eliminate anything remotely related to race gender or sexual orientation on college campuses Legislators directed intense scrutiny toward DEI initiatives in higher mentoring last session with passage of Senate Bill a law prohibiting prohibited DEI offices and practices at Texas society universities Following its implementation universities shut down multicultural and gender and sexuality centers and cut over positions Academia and scholarly research were however excepted under the law leaving degrees and programs like Texas Woman s University s safe at least for the time being But at the outset of the session Governor Greg Abbott signaled he longed to continue pushing against what he considers DEI in higher schooling We must purge it from every corner of our schools and return the focus to merit Abbott reported during his State of the State address in February Now legislators have launched attacks on targeting gender and ethnic studies departments programs and courses which specific educators say threatens academic freedom and the prestige of Texas universities GOP state Senator Brandon Creighton who authored SB last session has returned to the issue this year with a bill that more squarely targets academics and curriculum Senate Bill which is one of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick s priorities increases oversight of universities including reviewing core curricula every five years to remove any courses that attempt to require a novice to adopt a belief that any race sex or ethnicity or social political or religious belief is inherently superior to another or to adopt any other similar ideology These reviews would be conducted by the university s governing board though the board can appoint a committee of anyone they d like to help Abbott appoints all members of the boards of regents at inhabitants universities The Texas chapter of the American Association of University Professors explained the bill represents undue Big Establishment intrusion into our population locality colleges universities and wellness institutions and places populace higher instruction in Texas in receivership where faculty are sidelined and Governor appointees make all the decisions on what students can and cannot learn UT-Austin Shutterstock Specific universities have already taken preemptive action in the face of political threats Last November Texas A M University disbanded its LGBTQ studies minor along with other minors and certificates citing low enrollment The University of Texas at Austin revealed on April it was this instant ending its Flags program requirements making it so students no longer need to take classes labeled as covering cultural diversity global cultures or independent inquiry among others to graduate Karma Ch vez chair of the Mexican American and Latina o Studies Department at University of Texas explained targeting flags or core curricula would be deeply damaging because courses that fulfill degree requirements attract more students That would gut our classes Ch vez revealed The university founded the Center for Mexican American Studies in in response to Chicano attendee activists calls to include more Mexican-American curriculum The campaign was departmentalized in which Ch vez explained gave it more intellectual autonomy The move was supported by the president of UT at the time William Powers Jr according to Ch vez Now the department could be at vulnerability if SB becomes law The bill would monitor and potentially disband degree programs based on an analysis of aspirant debt levels per degree plan The Texas Higher Tuition Coordinating Board would be empowered to review programs every five years universities would not be able to use state funds for programs that get unfavorable ratings It s not about all courses Creighton disclosed of his bill on the Senate floor It s about degrees of value and how to get there faster and cheaper SB would also expand control over faculty councils by allowing only the governing board to establish a council Members may be removed if they re deemed to have used their university positions for political advocacy The politically appointed board would also be able to overturn any decision made by university administration including personnel hires or changes to curriculum Just ahead of a floor vote on April Creighton filed a -page amendment that substantially altered the bill Democrats criticized Creighton s bill for what they saw as a blatant targeting of universities academic independence and questioned if professors could still discuss topics involving race gender or ethnicity When questioned about specifics of what professors can teach Creighton reported those decisions would be deferred to a new curriculum advisory committee that under SB would be made of three governor appointees two lieutenant governor appointees two speaker appointees and the commissioner of higher guidance I m concerned that we re not preparing our next generation for a better society and to continue the work of healing our deep racial wounds that we ve talked about on this Senate floor mentioned Houston Democratic Senator Borris Miles during debate Senator Roland Gutierrez a San Antonio Democrat proposed a bipartisan committee to look at the decisions of governing boards There s nothing in the bill to protect against a body that says This is what history is Gutierrez mentioned Creighton rejected the amendment saying the boards will rely on well-rounded and properly vetted advice The Senate passed the bill - on party lines The House also has several bills that would expand administrative control of academia and target higher development curriculum including gender and ethnic studies though they ve not yet gotten much traction GOP state Representative Cody Harris has a bill that would prohibit universities from requiring students to take courses that teach critical theory relating to race and gender along with other supposedly controversial topics Republican state Representative Brian Harrison s House Bill would attempt to eliminate programs wholesale His bill would prohibit universities from offering courses programs or degrees in LGBTQ studies or DEI studies defined as courses that promote differential medicine of individuals on the basis of race color or ethnicity Universities revealed to be in noncompliance would lose state funding and professors violating the bill would be placed on a no-hire list It feels like the inmates are running the asylums in our population universities Harrison narrated the Texas Observer Taxpayers are having their tax dollars weaponized against them their values and their children by funding things like DEI and liberal transgender ideology His bill has not yet received a committee hearing Gender and ethnic studies programs and departments receive about million which is less than half of a percent of the University of Texas total operating budget for the - fiscal year the Observer uncovered At TWU the Multicultural Women s and Gender Studies venture made up about percent of the university s operating budget in Sonia Hern ndez a history professor at Texas A M University reported this sort of provision is an intensification of SB from last session and warned that limiting opportunity for students and professors to debate certain topics has the likely to chip away at the value of American universities There is a rationale behind allowing faculty and scholars the flexibility to ask really crucial questions that may or may not go with the current thought of the time but that can help spark meaningful debate and discussion Hern ndez noted In the SB hearing Senator Jos Men ndez commented he worried the bill would rob students of an opportunity to take classes that don t necessarily have a tangible purpose for their career SIGN UP FOR TEXAS OBSERVER EMAILS Get our latest in-depth reporting straight to your inbox Sign Up Texas universities such as Texas Tech University and the University of Texas at Arlington first began offering coursework or started centers in the women s and gender studies field in the s and s TWU began offering a master s plan in and its doctoral activity became current in disclosed Agatha Beins who is the current director of the Multicultural Women s and Gender Studies Operation Beins hasn t seen such targeted attacks on academic freedom during her time in academia since she first started teaching at TWU in Despite the political attacks the professors mentioned the undertaking has received advocacy from the university itself and from faculty About a dozen programs regularly cross-list courses allowing women s and gender studies to collaborate with other areas of evaluation across the university The beauty of women s and gender studies classes are the transferable skills they offer Beins noted You can start noticing these patterns of justice or injustice and inequity or equity notice them better understand why they occur and then figure out more effectively how to trouble solve Beins commented That s what we lose when we are unable to teach students about the breadth and diversity of human difference Alix Pierce was one of the first people to graduate with a bachelor s degree in Multicultural Women s and Gender Studies from TWU Pierce hopes to go into academia and apply the research skills they ve learned but they also apply their degree everyday at their current job working at a group home for queer youth I have learned how to vocalize things and be able to advocate for things that I need or other people need Pierce reported They have experienced all these things in their lives but they supposedly don t necessarily know how to vocalize it in the same way that I do because of the mentoring that I received At TWU students are required to take a multicultural women s studies program to graduate Pierce who was a teaching assistant for an introductory class disclosed students were appreciative of the class even if greater part did just take it as a requirement Students saw Oh every single woman in this class right now has experienced the same things as me Pierce disclosed Your experiences are validated Driven in part by an increasingly conservative political state that is fueling these attacks on higher learning faculty have begun to consider leaving the state Over half of Texas professors would not recommend the state to their out-of-state colleagues according to a survey issued by the American Association of University Professors In over a quarter of faculty planned to interview in another state the survey demonstrated Phillips-Cunningham mentioned such attacks on ethnic and cultural studies are leading to a brain drain in the South Black professors in particular have left Texas because of challenges to their work she explained While the Legislature might be focused on gender and ethnic studies now she announced she wouldn t be surprised if it starts going after more traditional majors next It s just a total gutting out of every single inch of progress this country has made in several different areas Phillips-Cunningham explained The post The Lege s Big Establishment Intrusion into University Academics appeared first on The Texas Observer