Texas House Democrats are attempting to run out the clock on a bill that professors across the state say threatens academic freedom at public universities.
Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, raised a point of order — a procedural tactic that aims to thwart proposed legislation — against the House’s version of the bill on Thursday before it could be laid out, arguing its analysis is “substantially and materially misleading.”
“We have fought vigorously against this bill from the moment it was announced and we are proud to delay the passage of this harmful piece of legislation against tenured faculty,” Reynolds said in a statement. “Our colleges and universities deserve better.”
The legislation bounced back to the House Committee on Higher Education, where lawmakers again swiftly voted it out along party lines. It is now headed to the calendars committee, which will decide when to once more bring up the bill on the House floor.
The Senate, which is led by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, voted last month on a version of the bill that would eradicate tenure in Texas universities, one of Patrick’s priorities for this legislative session.
“For far too long, academia has been poisoned by woke policies and faculty seeking to indoctrinate our students,” Patrick argued in a statement. “Students should be taught how to think critically, not what to think.”
Once attained, tenure currently guarantees that professors can only be terminated for a justifiable cause or under extreme circumstances, such as program discontinuation or severe financial restraints.
The House’s version of the bill would instead define tenure in state statute as “the entitlement of a faculty member of an institution of higher education to continue in the faculty member’s academic position unless dismissed by the institution for good cause.”
It would also allow for the dismissal of a tenured faculty member under different circumstances, such as exhibiting “professional incompetence” or “moral turpitude.”
Other reasons include repeatedly neglecting duties or professional responsibilities, failing to complete post-tenure reviews, violating laws or policies of a university or institution, being convicted of a crime and engaging in unprofessional conduct.
Although the House’s version of the bill is “preferable” to the Senate’s, the Texas American Association of University Professors said in a statement, it still endangers “the quality of and access to higher education in the state.”
“Tenure is a necessary guarantee of academic freedom, which is freedom from censorship by the institution or the government,” the statement continues.
The Texas AAUP also argued that tenure-track professors are rigorously evaluated over a six-year period by faculty, administrators and external experts. Once tenured, according to state law, all tenured faculty members undergo a robust review each year, including a rigorous multiyear comprehensive review at least once every six years.
The Texas Legislative Black Caucus, which is chaired by Reynolds, said in a statement that the legislation also “disproportionately harms not just Black, but also Latinx, Asian, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ professors.”
Pat Heintzelman, an English professor and president of the Texas Faculty Association, argues that “tenure is not political” and urged lawmakers to “preserve tenure in letter and spirit, and thereby higher education competitiveness and excellence in Texas.”
Tenure’s “whole purpose is to protect free inquiry and expression of all academics, regardless of politics,” she said.
