The College Fix

Law requires regular review of curriculum, creates higher ed ombudsman

A new law signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday is another effort by Republican lawmakers to remove diversity, equity, and inclusion activism from public higher education.

State Sen. Brandon Creighton, the lead sponsor, described the legislation as a “bold step to ensure our public colleges and universities return to their core mission: education, not indoctrination.”

“Just as SB 17 eliminated DEI hiring last session, SB 37 now takes on politically charged academic programs and ensures students graduate with degrees of value, not degrees rooted in activism and political indoctrination,” Creighton stated in a news release.

Senate Bill 37 includes a number of structural changes in the governance of public higher education institutions.

Among other things, it creates new committees to review curriculum at least once every five years to ensure that classes “prepare students for civic and professional life.”

However, lawmakers did remove a section from the final version of the bill that prohibited curriculum that “promote[s] the idea that any race, sex, or ethnicity or any religious belief is inherently superior to any other.”

Creighton said the law, which will go into effect Sept. 1, “demands real accountability from our institutions by creating curriculum review committees in course offerings, aligning core curriculum with workforce needs, and empowering Texans to report ideological bias or political coercion in the classroom.”

As The College Fix reported in May:

The bill clarifies that the task of hiring administrators and giving final approval to the curriculum is the Board of Regents’. Regents are appointed by the governor. …

Additionally, the bill would create a state ombudsman’s office under the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to monitor compliance.

The new law will require universities to review minors and certificate programs every five years “to identify programs with low enrollment that may require consolidation or elimination.”

It also will restructure faculty governance, Inside Higher Ed reports:

Senate Bill 37 says that only an institution’s governing board can create a faculty council or senate. If a board decides to keep one, the college or university president gets to pick the “presiding officer, associate presiding officer, and secretary” and prescribe how the body conducts meetings.

Unless the institution’s board decides otherwise, faculty governing bodies must shrink to no more than 60 members. The Texas A&M University Faculty Senate currently has 122.

The 60 members must include at least two representatives from each of the colleges and schools that comprise the institution—including what the law describes vaguely as “one member appointed by the president or chief executive officer of the institution,” with the rest elected by the faculty of the particular school or college. This could mean that half of a faculty senate would be chosen by the president, barring an exemption by the institution’s board.

Sherry Sylvester with the Texas Public Policy Foundation said the bill takes Texas “back to the original governing model for the universities” where business leaders and job creators – “people working in the world who know what kinds of education, what skills the workforce needs” – are the ones overseeing higher education.

“Our goal in advocating SB37 is not to take universities that have a liberal to progressive activist perspective to change them to a conservative activist perspective. Our goal is to return our universities to places of inquiry so that every idea can be explored and every question can be asked,” she told The Fix in May.

However, critics have expressed concern that the bill could significantly weaken academic freedom.

Joe Cohn, policy director at Heterodox Academy, recently wrote that the bill would “undermin[e] institutional independence” and faculty governance. While his scholarly group acknowledged the goal of improving viewpoint diversity, Cohn said many parts of the bill actually “threaten open inquiry.”

MORE: More Texas colleges appear to dodge new law banning DEI offices

IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks; Stock photo world/Shutterstock

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