Texas Tech University system’s chancellor this week restricted how faculty can teach about race and said professors who teach about gender identity and sexual orientation will be required to submit their course material to a review process overseen by the Board of Regents.
In addition, faculty are prohibited from teaching that one race is “inherently superior” to another; a person can be inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive; and a person should “bear responsibility or guilt for actions of others of the same race or sex.” The policy, which goes into effect immediately, also prohibits faculty from promoting “activism” on issues related to race or sex.
Texas Tech defines promotion of these ideas as presenting them “as correct or required and pressuring students to affirm them, rather than analyzing or critiquing them as one viewpoint among others.” In a statement released after the chancellor’s memo, the university system wrote that faculty could continue to “examine or critique disputed ideas” but should not require students to “affirm” them.
Faculty are only allowed to recognize the male and female sexes in their courses, the memo states, citing “state law and federal policy.” Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that restricts what sexes the federal government recognizes.
According to the review process detailed in the memo, professors can request that administrators approve material about race if they believe it’s relevant and necessary for classroom instruction but may run afoul of the policy. After the material is reviewed by administrators, the provost then will have to provide justification for the decision to the system’s regents.
Brandon Creighton, the university’s chancellor, said the policy is in response to federal and state laws. Senate Bill 37 requires public universities’ boards of regents to review courses every five years to ensure they “are necessary to prepare students for civic and professional life.” Creighton, a former state senator who became chancellor in August, was the author of the bill.
“The mission of the Texas Tech University system is to educate the next generation of Texas leaders and to drive innovation that strengthens our state and nation,” Creighton wrote in a statement. “These new guidelines reflect that mission by giving our faculty clarity, consistency, and guardrails that protect academic excellence. The purpose of this framework is to support both strong academic freedom and the accountability needed to maintain excellence.”
The policy prompted immediate backlash from the American Association of University Professors and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
“There’s continued use of very vague wording which are combined with threats of disciplinary action that are undoubtedly curtailing the First Amendment rights of the faculty in the classroom,” said Andrew W. Martin, president of the Texas Tech AAUP chapter. “There’s no doubt in my mind that that’s the intent, and ultimately, perhaps the worst thing is that politically mandated ideas will be taught instead of scientifically accepted concepts in our disciplines, or concepts that are recognized by the disciplinary experts.”
Course Content Review Process (PDF)
In September, the Texas Tech University system required its five universities to limit how professors teach about transgender and nonbinary identities in a directive faculty members described as vague.
Martin said that Monday’s memo, like the September one, offers little guidance on how professors should assess their course content.
“While the chancellor’s memo speaks to the idea of ensuring that we offer degrees of value, if politicians are dictating the course content, that is the exact opposite effect,” Martin said.
The Texas Tech University system is the second in the state to enact a sweeping policy that restricts how professors teach about race, gender, and sexuality. Last month, Texas A&M University system’s board voted to ban courses that advocate for race or gender ideology and topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity unless faculty have prior approval from their campus president.
The ban came after a viral video showed Melissa McCoul, a lecturer in a children’s-literature course, arguing with a student over course material about gender identity in early September. Texas A&M University fired the professor and demoted her two supervisors. A faculty panel later found that the university failed to follow due process in McCoul’s firing.
