In 2023, the Texas state legislature passed legislation abolishing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs at public colleges and universities in the Lone Star state.
The usual suspects were not happy:
Led by Lt. Gov. Patrick, Texas has filed a package of three higher ed censorship bills: SB 16, 17, and 18. If they all pass, they would place TX higher ed under draconian restrictions second only to Florida's. Here's what they would do. 🧵 https://t.co/DP17aRrmzf
— Jeremy C. Young (@jeremycyoung) March 13, 2023
The sky, as usual, is falling:
SB 17 would forbid faculty, students, and staff from receiving critical training and services that help o prevent potentially discriminatory action and in ways that disadvantage students who come from historically marginalized backgrounds.
The bill’s ban against DEI initiatives in higher education would threaten the safety and well-being of college students and staff from marginalized communities by chilling their ability to speak or report on their lived experiences in a college setting.
It will deprive students from all backgrounds of knowledge and resources about various aspects of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
So two months after the bill went into effect, how are Texas "woke" academics reacting?
About exactly like you'd expect:
According to a survey by the student paper The Daily Texan, approximately 60 percent of over 430 (mainly undergraduate) professors said they have “considering leaving” UT due to SB 17, which includes 75 percent of College of Liberal Arts faculty.
Two hundred sixty-four professors “strongly” or “somewhat” considered quitting, while a total of 110 “strongly” or “somewhat” felt the opposite. Forty-three percent of UT business school faculty are included in the “strongly disagreed” category.
Many of the (wannabe) departing faculty cite various degrees of "hostility" and "lack of academic freedom" as reasons to find another gig teaching...
...er, what are they teaching?
Curran Nault no longer felt comfortable teaching at UT after spring 2025, so he left for the University of Nevada. For Nault, a queer studies professor, the writing on the wall had been there since late 2023, when Texas Senate Bill 17 went into effect and directed universities to close diversity, equity and inclusion offices. He was alarmed UT closed the Gender and Sexuality Center, a support service for LGBTQ+ students, in 2024 to comply with the law.
“The closing of the center for me, and for a lot of people, was a clear warning sign that UT was becoming an unwelcoming place for thinking critically about gender and sexuality,” Nault said.
Nothing against the field of queer studies, but one suspects that the market for the discipline, without what is in effect a subsidy from institutional DEI programs, is up there with "VCR repairman".
And the "S"-word - safety - pops up as well:
Some professors have never discussed politics in their classroom. Still, the effects of this shift in climate reach them. Jonathan Valvano, an electrical and computer engineering professor, said that although his department does not regularly teach political classes, he still senses fear among his colleagues in discussing political topics.
“I know we have 70 men and women faculty members who will push back on nonsense,” Valvano said. “UT is still a safe space because we’re not gonna back down and, if they want to fire all 70 of us, they’re gonna have to.”
Not since Fallujah, or maybe Iwo Jima, have a group of Americans faced such terrifying privation.
But since they mentioned safety, not to mention academic freedom, I thought I'd check in with some people whose academic freedom, to say nothing of safety, actually is in danger on campus, and has been for a while: conservative activists.
Like at the University of Oklahoma:
Videos from early November show several students at the University of Oklahoma kicking over and pulling yard signs out of the ground belonging to the school’s Turning Point USA chapter...The next video shows a female student pulling one of the yard signs out of the ground and toss it onto the grass. The cameraman asks the student to not touch the signs, but when she sees the camera, she swings at him and says, “Get your stupid a** camera out of my face.”
Or the University of Iowa:
Justin Pham, a student at the University of Iowa, approached a table hosted by the school’s Turning Point USA chapter and was offered a hot chocolate by the group, according to a criminal complaint reviewed by KGAN.
Pham was seen committing a similar act against a Young America’s Foundation table in a separate video shared by Cabot Phillips, senior editor of The Daily Wire. Phillips was previously the editor-in-chief of Campus Reform.
Or this exemplar of academic freedom and public safety at the U of New Mexico:
When the man approached the table and was invited to discuss his political views with the chapter members, he responded, “Nah, you’re doing the Kirk bull****. Kirk got shot in the neck for a reason.”
The man is then seen picking up two signs and attempting to walk away with them before being stopped by one of the chapter members. Shortly after, UNM police showed up and took the man into custody.
Not sure, but last I checked, university professors were the ones doing the attacking, not being attacked.
