Increased oversight of Texas universities: micromanagement or strengthening workforce?

A proposal to increase oversight of Texas’ public universities — including over who is hired and what is taught — veers into state overreach, House Democrats said at a committee hearing Tuesday.

The Senate’s priority bill would overhaul state colleges by giving governor-appointed regents more power to determine which courses are offered and regulate what’s included in lessons, such as monitoring how students learn about race and sex.

College professors say academic freedom is at stake with this proposal, known as Senate Bill 37. They note that having a new state ombudsman’s office — which would investigate concerns at the schools, such as allegations that they are getting around the state’s DEI ban — would have a chilling effect.

“This appears to be a solution in search of a problem, of biting the hand that feeds us so to speak … I can’t even see the data that suggests that this is necessary,” Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, said.

However, Rep. Matt Shaheen, R-Plano, who introduced the House version of the bill, told the committee that the bill aims to strengthen the state’s talent pipeline by eliminating courses that “may be outdated or misaligned with workforce needs and some degrees and certificate programs that lack workforce relevance and have low enrollment.”

Adopting the measure will bolster Texas’ future workforce by ensuring students get “higher-value degrees less expensively,” he added.

Howard pushed back, calling the bill “extreme micromanagement.” She noted that university officials already consider industry needs when determining what courses to offer.

She pointed to state initiatives aimed at increasing post-secondary credentials — such as Gov. Greg Abbott’s 60x30 plan launched a decade ago and its replacement, the Building a Talent Strong Texas plan, that came in 2022.

Boards of regents oversee college systems, such as the University of Texas and Texas A&M systems. They typically don’t get involved in day-to-day operations.

Professors worry placing curriculum decisions in the hands of the politically connected governing boards would threaten their ability to teach controversial topics, as well as students’ freedom to study certain subjects. The role of faculty senates would also be significantly decreased under the bill.

Some conservative students, however, see the proposal as a reprieve from courses that promote “ideological conformity” and those that have no relevance to their degrees or future careers.

“In my experience, I’ve never been assigned a conservative, moderate or even classically liberal perspective. That’s not education. It’s indoctrination, and it’s troubling that taxpayer dollars are subsidizing propaganda that only considers one viewpoint to the exclusion of others,” Paola Martinez, a student at UT-El Paso, said late Tuesday night as a hearing on the bill resumed.

She said she faced difficulties when she “tried to bring balance” to UTEP by starting a campus chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, a conservative youth activism group. Meanwhile, the College Democrats chapter was easily approved, she said.

Introduced by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, SB 37 is one of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s top priorities. Patrick has long said he wants to roll back the “woke left” on college campuses.

​​“Strong oversight is essential to keeping Texas universities at the forefront of education and innovation,” Creighton said in a statement last month. “With taxpayer dollars and students’ futures on the line, our institutions must be accountable.”

The legislation passed the Texas Senate in a 20-11 vote in April.

Under the bill, regents could overturn any decision made by campus leaders and would have final say over provost hirings.

Rep. Vincent Perez, D-El Paso, said the bill lacks safeguards against regents “politicizing hiring decisions” and turning “important academic roles into partisanship appointments.”

Ray Bonilla, general counsel for the Texas A&M System, told lawmakers that while the bill gives regents the power to overturn hiring decisions below the provost, “We would hope that would be an extraordinary situation.”

The proposal also aims to give regents final say over what courses are included in a university’s core curriculum. Professors, deans and provosts currently have wide latitude on course offerings and lessons.

SB 37 aims to ensure core courses do not “advocate or promote the idea that any race, sex, or ethnicity or any religious belief is inherently superior to any other,“ according to the bill.

Core curriculum classes would have to prepare students for the workforce and “civic and professional life,” among other things.

Perez worries that regents could eliminate courses, such as those about ethnic studies and gender studies, based on “subjective criteria” because the “bill doesn’t clearly define what exactly is outdated or irrelevant.”

A “wide range of opinions” — including faculty, administrators, community members and industry leaders — could be involved in decisions about core courses as an advisory committee at each institution, Bonilla responded.

“There will be some subjective considerations,” he conceded. “I’m not sure how you can take that out of the process.”

Professors echoed the concern about the bill’s broad language, arguing it would “prevent open and honest discussion of the American past.”

SB 37 would cause professors to avoid difficult topics about ideologies or race under the increased oversight, Lauren Gutterman, an associate professor of American studies at UT Austin, told lawmakers.

Governing boards would have final say over whether to cut minor degrees and certificate programs with low enrollment under the bill. Departments would have to show the president, who must review such programs every five years, “industry data to substantiate workforce demand” to avoid consideration for elimination.

Students in the arts, humanities and social sciences worry about the scrutiny over their fields of study.

Arwyn Heilrayne, a sophomore at UT studying theater education, told the committee she recently applied to colleges outside of Texas. She wants to teach theater after graduation but worries that relevant courses could be cut and her professors “silenced” under the bill, she said.

“I owe it to my future students to get the best possible education now that I possibly can … If passed, this bill would force me to leave,” she said.

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