Dive Brief:
- The University of Texas System’s governing board plans to consider a policy this week that would create new guidelines for teaching “controversial and contested” subjects and require faculty to disclose and stick to course topics outlined in syllabi.
- The draft is framed as principles of “academic integrity” as a balance to faculty’s academic freedom. Those principles include fairly presenting differing views and evidence on “reasonably disputed matters and unsettled issues” as well as eschewing controversial topics “not germane to the course.”
- The Texas conference of the American Association of University Professors blasted the proposal in a Monday statement, describing it as a “sweeping, vague policy” and calling on the board of regents to reject it.
Dive Insight:
The proposal for the 13-institution UT System additionally calls on its institutions’ administrations to seek “balance” in their faculty bodies and curricula and to design core education requirements that allow students to meet them without needing “to study unnecessary controversial subjects.”
Moreover, it says institutions “must make a principled determination on when controversial material is required for a degree in a field of study and/or available as elective credit.”
The proposal instructs professors to build a culture of trust in their classrooms where students feel free to express their viewpoints on controversial and contested subjects — terms left undefined in the draft policy.
Faculty must “not attempt to coerce, indoctrinate, harass, or belittle students, especially in addressing controversial subjects and areas where people of good faith can hold differing convictions,” the proposal says.
Some Texas instructors worry about how the proposal would be enforced as the state cracks down on progressive and left-wing thought.
The Texas AAUP-AFT conference pointed to the Texas A&M University System, which recently adopted a policy that restricts teaching on topics related to race, sexual orientation and gender.
The policy already led to administrators censoring certain texts by the classical Greek thinker Plato in an introductory philosophy class. That decision garnered widespread media coverage and condemnation from free speech groups.
PEN America said it created “new levels of educational censorship at Texas A&M.” PEN America’s Amy Reid called on the university’s board of regents to nix the policy restricting teaching on race and gender. “Censoring classical texts in service of political orthodoxy is antithetical to the goals of education,” she said.
The state faculty groups said Monday that Texas A&M’s version also led to “nontransparent AI reviews of each instructor’s course content” and “mid-semester course censorship and cancellations.”
The new policies at state universities follow Texas Gov. Greg Abbott saying the state would openly target “professors who are more focused on pushing leftist ideologies rather than preparing students to lead our nation.”
Abbott’s comments in October followed high-profile firings of faculty members at public Texas colleges over their speech. Texas lawmakers have also created new panels to address “bias, discourse, and freedom of speech” on the state’s college campuses following the killing of right-wing commentator and organizer Charlie Kirk.
Over two dozen faculty members nationwide were fired or faced other disciplinary actions for criticizing Kirk’s views after his death or for being seen as celebrating it. Some have since been reinstated.
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