Feb 18, 2022, 04:53pm
Texas Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick wants to stop tenured professors from teaching critical race theory at Texas public universities.
Texas lieutenant governor says tenured professors shouldn't be allowed to poison the minds of students.
Patrick wants to eliminate tenure for future hires at all 38 public universities in the state and to change tenure reviews for already-tenured professors from every six years to once a year.
Patrick wants to give the regents of Texas public universities more power on issues of tenure and wants to make teaching CRT in the classroom grounds for revocation of tenure.
Patrick defined the term as an acronym for Critical Legal Studies, which means that everything that happened in life is based on racism.
The University of Texas Faculty Council passed a resolution Monday supporting freedom to teach gender justice and other subjects.
As lieutenant governor, Patrick sets up legislative priorities and decides which bills are sent to which committees, which can influence the likelihood of a bill getting out of committee and even determine when a bill can come to the floor for a vote.
According to the Austin American-Statesman, Patrick said his idea was supported by Sen. Brandon Creighton, who chairs the Senate Higher Education Committee.
It is high time that more oversight is provided for universities that are being taken over by tenured professors.
Critics argue that stripping university faculty of tenure would hurt universities' ability to hire the best talent and discourage professionals from coming to Texas. The faculty of the University of Texas were concerned about the institution's ability to compete with other top research universities. Progress Texas said on Friday that this is just plain stupid.
Patrick's comments signal a turning point in the culture wars in Texas, and a new focus on CRT on college campuses after Gov. Greg Abbott last year signed into law a bill that prescribes how teachers discuss race, current events and other subjects in public schools from kindergarten through 12. A growing number of school districts in Texas have announced book bans and investigations into school library collections due to a nationwide trend of parents and officials raising concerns over books that deal with topics like racism, sexuality and gender expression. In South Carolina, a bill has been proposed that would do away with tenure.
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