Texas university leaders on Tuesday will share their progress and challenges in carrying out a new state law that gives governor-appointed regents more control over what students learn.<\/p>\n
A Texas Senate committee will hear invited testimony only. However, students and professors who say they experienced censorship and other effects under Senate Bill 37 are planning a news conference at the Capitol beforehand. <\/p>\n
Under SB 37, governing boards must regularly review universities\u2019 undergraduate course requirements and academic programs. It expands regents\u2019 authority over the selection of campus leaders and faculty senates, groups that represent professors in university decisions. The law took effect Sept. 1, and boards must complete their first review of general education requirements by Jan. 1.<\/p>\n
The original bill would have barred required undergraduate courses from endorsing particular policies, ideologies or legislation, but lawmakers removed that language. The final law instead says those courses must prepare students for civic and professional life, the workforce and the \u201cbetterment of society.\u201d <\/p>\n
Soon after the law took effect last fall, a secretly recorded video of a Texas A&M professor teaching about gender identity intensified scrutiny of college classrooms. Public university systems subsequently reviewed thousands of courses and adopted policies requiring professors to follow approved syllabi; to seek advanced approval for certain lessons about race, gender, and sexuality; or to present controversial topics in a \u201cbalanced\u201d way<\/a>. <\/p>\n Senators will hear from Texas Tech University System Chancellor Brandon Creighton, the former state senator who authored SB 37, as well as officials from the University of Texas and Texas A&M systems. <\/p>\n In an April interview with Everything Lubbock, Creighton called the law \u201ca floor,\u201d not a limitation<\/a>, saying universities could \u201cexpand off of that along that same spirit or intent.\u201d Since becoming chancellor, he\u2019s barred instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in core and most lower-level courses and required advance approval to include it in certain upper-level and graduate courses. <\/p>\n Faculty groups are suing Creighton and the system\u2019s regents, seeking to block the restrictions<\/a> on grounds that they suppress disfavored viewpoints, discriminate based on sex and are too vague for professors to know what they may teach without risking discipline.<\/p>\n Brandon Simmons, the state\u2019s new higher education ombudsman, is expected to testify publicly for the first time. <\/p>\n SB 37 empowers him to investigate whether universities are complying with SB 37 and the state\u2019s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs; compel schools\u2019 cooperation; and recommend that lawmakers block them from spending state funds if administrators do not correct violations.<\/p>\n Simmons\u2019 office has dismissed dozens of complaints and opened one investigation<\/a> into a student\u2019s allegations that Stephen F. Austin State University operated a prohibited DEI program and discriminated against conservatives. Stephen F. Austin officials told KTRE<\/a> that the university \u201ccomplies with all state and federal laws. If there is a governmental investigation, the university will fully cooperate.\u201d<\/p>\n Community college funding<\/p>\n Lawmakers will also review Texas\u2019 performance-based funding system for community colleges. <\/p>\n Last week, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board lowered the amount colleges can receive for certain student outcomes<\/a> after they outperformed predictions and collectively qualified for more money than lawmakers budgeted for the biennium.<\/p>\n Campus leaders will speak publicly for the first time since learning they will receive millions less than they earned under a performance-funding system adopted in 2023.<\/p>\n Lawmakers could close the gap between what the colleges are owed and what the state can pay through supplementary appropriations during next year\u2019s legislative session.<\/p>\n In the meantime, to lower the dollars Texas owes community colleges, the state\u2019s higher education agency decreased incentives in the funding model for educating low-income students and nontraditional, adult learners, who advocates say are among those who need the most help getting to graduation.<\/p>\n Research security<\/p>\n Research security officials from the University of Texas System, including MD Anderson Cancer Center<\/a>, and the Texas A&M University System are expected to testify about how they are carrying out House Bill 127<\/a>, a new research-security law. <\/p>\n The law requires public universities to screen certain foreign researchers or people with professional ties to countries deemed foreign adversaries by federal intelligence officials or the governor, including China, Russia and Iran. Universities must also monitor employees\u2019 international travel and restrict certain gifts and academic partnerships involving those countries.<\/p>\n A Rice University official is expected to testify. Although the private university in Houston is not subject to most of the law\u2019s requirements, HB 127 allows private research universities to participate in a state council that develops research-security standards and guidance.<\/p>\n Sneha Dey contributed to this report.<\/p>\n The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.<\/p>\n Disclosure: MD Anderson Cancer Center, Open Campus, Rice University, Texas Tech University System and The Texas A&M University System have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in The Texas Tribune\u2019s journalism. Find a complete\u00a0list of them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas university leaders on Tuesday will share their progress and challenges in carrying out a new state law…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":964507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5130],"tags":[130084,8734,387601,4345,339105,80,16382,197565,143378,5528,358,118591,100808,7376,387602,3187,387603,156405],"class_list":["post-964506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-community-colleges","tag-higher-education","tag-higher-education-coordinating-board","tag-houston","tag-m-d-anderson-cancer-center","tag-politics","tag-rice-university","tag-state-agencies","tag-state-funding","tag-state-government","tag-texas","tag-texas-am-university-system","tag-texas-higher-education","tag-texas-legislature","tag-texas-tech-university-system","tag-tx","tag-university-of-texas-system","tag-well-b-homepage"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116997485145270178","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=964506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/964506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/964507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=964506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=964506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=964506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}