Texas Tech enacts new classroom restrictions on race and gender topics

Texas Tech University System Chancellor Brandon Creighton has imposed new restrictions on race, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms, and instructors who fail to comply could face discipline.

Creighton said educators should not promote the idea that “one race or gender is inherently superior to another; that an individual, consciously or unconsciously, by merit or race or gender is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive; that any person should be discriminated against or treated negatively because of race or gender; that moral character or worth is determined by race or gender; that individuals bear responsibility or guilt for the actions of others of the same race or gender; or that meritocracy or a strong work ethic is racist, sexist.” According to a memo sent to university presidents on Monday.

“Promotion” was defined in the statement as “presenting these beliefs as true or necessary and pressuring students to confirm them, rather than analyzing or criticizing these beliefs as one among other perspectives.”

The memo includes a flowchart outlining the new approval process for any course content that includes restricted topics. Faculty must submit content to department chairs, university administrators, and the Board of Trustees for review and approval.

TEXAS A&M SETS RULES FOR DISCUSSING RACE AND GENDER IN THE CLASSROOM

Instructors are told to first determine whether the material is relevant and necessary. They will then be asked whether the material is needed for professional licensure or certification or for patient or client care; In this case, the material may remain in the course but the Board of Trustees will be notified. If the material is not necessary for these purposes, instructors must obtain approval to retain the material by submitting it to the department chair, dean, and provost, who will forward their recommendations and justification to the Board of Trustees.

The new rules aim to provide “clarity, consistency, and guardrails that protect academic excellence,” Creighton said in a news release.

A system representative said the memo is intended to serve as a guide for faculty as they prepare for the spring semester, and the system hopes the new approval process moves quickly.

The statement states that “the integrity of this process depends on the serious participation of each faculty member,” adding that noncompliance “may result in disciplinary action consistent with university policies and state law.”

Professor emeritus Kelli Cargile Cook, founder of Texas Tech’s Department of Professional Communication, said the note led her to decide to drop a course she planned to teach this spring and write a resignation letter instead.

“I’ve been teaching since 1981, and this was going to be my last class. I was looking forward to working with the seniors in our major, but I can’t stomach what’s going on at Texas Tech,” he told The Associated Press. “I think the memo is shrewd in the sense that the beliefs it lists are at face value and are something you can accept. But when you think about how to put it into practice, where a Board of Regents approves a curriculum (politically appointed, not educated, not researchers) this move is a slippery slope.”

TEXAS TECH TOLD FACULTY TO REVIEW INSTRUCTIONS TO RECOGNIZE ONLY TWO GENDER IN CLASSROOMS

Faculty must submit content to department chairs, university administrators, and the Board of Trustees for review and approval. (Getty Images)

He said he was shocked that the statement characterized certain concepts of race and gender as “one perspective among many” and said it addressed established facts “as if George Wallace being a racist was one perspective,” a reference to the former Alabama governor who advocated segregation.

Creighton’s memo said the new requirements were a “first step” in the Board of Trustees’ implementation of Senate Bill 37, which he wrote before resigning from the Texas Senate to become head of the Texas Tech System. The law requires regents to conduct a comprehensive review of the courses all undergraduates must take to graduate to ensure they prepare students for civic and professional life and reflect Texas workforce needs, with the first review due in 2027.

System leaders placed limits on how faculty could discuss gender identity in classes in September after a viral video of a Texas A&M professor lecturing about gender identity led to public criticism from conservatives, the professor’s firing and the resignation of the university’s president.

Angelo State University, one of five institutions in the Texas Tech University System, was the first university to adopt the changes, quietly directing faculty in September to halt classroom discussions of transgender identities.

Texas Tech’s then-Chancellor Tedd L. Mitchell later issued a systemwide order stating that faculty must comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order, a letter from Governor Greg Abbott, and House Bill 229 recognizing only male and female gender.

Professors told The Texas Tribune at the time that Mitchell’s guidance forced them to delay classes and jettison terms like “transgender” and self-censorship.

Creighton took over as chancellor following Mitchell’s retirement last month.

The new policies at the Texas Tech University System come after the Texas A&M University System approved a new policy last month in the wake of the controversial video requiring every campus president to sign off on any course that could be viewed as advocating “issues related to race and gender ideology or sexual orientation or gender identity;” but Texas Tech’s new rules appear to go further, as they require a formal approval process ending with the Board of Regents.

TEXAS A&M COMMITTEE FINDS PROFESSOR’S FIRING FOR TRANSGENDER-RELATED COURSE UNFAIR

Texas Tech University System Chancellor Brandon Creighton said the new rules aim to provide “clarity, consistency and guardrails that protect academic excellence.” (Getty Images)

Other universities that announced course reviews following the Texas A&M viral video controversy or in response to SB 37 also sent new instructions to faculty.

Andrew Martin, president of the Texas Tech chapter of the American Association of University Professors, criticized Monday’s memo as “deeply disappointing.”

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“We had hoped that having our new chancellor visit the system’s campuses and get to know students, faculty and staff would encourage finding common ground and an understanding that academic freedom is a freedom we all share, a freedom that is foundational to a free society,” he said.

Martin argued that the new rules and process violate the First Amendment and harm transgender students and their colleagues while continuing to misrepresent the law.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.