The Governor’s Appointment Committee overseeing the University of Texas was able to quickly have new powers to control the curriculum required by students and eliminate degree programs.
The law, sent to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday, marks the latest efforts among Republican-led states. Rebuilding higher education institutions To argue that they promote liberal ideology. It follows a similar move in Florida and Ohio.
National action comes as President Donald Trump’s administration injects higher education and leverages federal funds Student Visa Bureau Clamp down Campus Activism Stamp out Diversity, Equality, and Inclusive Initiatives.
Some professors argue that the move violates the principles of academic freedom that many universities have been going on for decades.
“Political operatives essentially used their status of political power, economic power, to demand that the system adhere to their ideas,” said Isaac Kamora, director of the Center for Academic Freedom Defense at the American Association of University Professors.
“This is an existential attack on higher education we are facing,” added Kamora, a political science professor at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.
Texas’ efforts to shape general education requirements
under Texas Lawthe governing committee of higher education institutions is tasked with reviewing, and potentially overturning the requirements of the general education curriculum to ensure that students are prepared for civic and professional lives, prepare for the workforce, and that courses are needed to spend on students.
The governing committee also gains greater power over faculty councils, employment of academic administrators, and decisions to eliminate mild degrees or certificate programs with fewer registrations. The bill will also create the office of the state ombudsman to investigate complaints against agencies, including alleged violations of restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
“The purpose of this law is to provide consistency in terms of curriculum and the degree to which students are offered,” Republican Rep. Matt Shaheen, co-sponsor of the Congress, said during a discussion on the House floor.
Ray Bonilla, an attorney for the Texas A&M University System, one of the state’s largest institutions of higher education, said the law formalizes decisions already made at universities and does not create “overworkloads.”
But Democrat Rep. Donna Howard said during the committee in May that the law “seems to be extreme microcontrolled on the part of Congress.”
“The bill is not about improving education, it’s about increasing control,” Howard said during the discussion.
Ohio law requires specific curricula
In Ohio New law prohibits DEI programs Public universities require a civic literacy course to graduate and graduate from certain collective bargaining and tenure protection faculty. In addition to covering the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, the three-hour opening course should include at least five essays from federalist papers, “Letters from the Birmingham Prison” by Martin Luther King Jr., and a study of the principles of the “Nation of Wealth” by Adam Smith.
The law also places restrictions on the processing of “controversial beliefs or policies,” defined as including climate, immigration or foreign policy, electoral politics, DEI programs, marriage, and abortion.
While testifying about his bill, Republican state Sen. Jerry Sirino cited John Dewey, one of the fathers of progressive education, to denounce what he believes to be a difficult tack in the university in other directions.
“He believed that all theories should be looked into and discussed,” Chirino told fellow lawmakers. “He would certainly have been against the awakened adaptation we see on so many campuses.
Christopher McNight Nichols, a history professor at Ohio State University, said the law already promotes some faculty to disinfect websites with “controversial” content, change course descriptions, and in some cases cancel courses entirely. He said it has never been proven that faculty is systematically punishing students who do not share political beliefs.
Nichols is one of the coalitions where Ohio educators, students and administrators are opposed to the new law. The opponent will gather enough signatures to overturn the referendum in the November vote, facing a deadline in late June.
Trump’s order and movements with roots in Florida
In a sense, efforts to exercise greater state control over university faculty and curriculum bring higher education closer to the governance model that is commonly seen in K-12 education, said Alec Thomson, president of the National Council for Higher Education of the National Council for Higher Education.
Thomson, professor of political science and history at Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Michigan, added:
During his first term in 2020, Trump An executive order has been issued They have contracts that prohibit the promotion of “schizophrenia” in federal agencies from the “fighting between race and gender stereotypes” and “schizophrenia concepts” that involve one race or gender being “essentially superior” to another, individuals should feel guilty for race or sex, and merit-based systems are racist or sexist.
A similar ban on the concept of division soon appeared in the model bill backed by a conservative think tank and the state’s higher education law, including Florida in 2022. New Universities in Florida – Once known as the most progressive in the state, the small liberal arts school was by appointing a group of conservatives to the governing committee. After that, DeSantis I traveled to campus to sign the law Prohibits going to DEI activities in higher education and public funds promoting political or social activities.
This year’s governors and lawmakers are about twice as many Actions targeting DEI initiatives Like last year, according to the Associated Press. Plural form of bill tracking software.
Among them is new Idaho laws that not only ban higher education offices and programs, but also address what is being taught in classrooms. Universities and universities prohibit students from requiring students to take DEI-related courses to meet graduation requirements unless they have a degree in race or gender studies.
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Lathan is a legion of the Associated Press/America Statehouse News Initiative report. American Report It is a non-profit, national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms and reports on secret issues.
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