College Station, Texas — Texas A&U of M System trustees on Thursday asked professors to get approval from the school’s president to discuss certain topics of race and gender, tightening rules months after a video went viral. A student confronts his teacher Her lessons caused unrest on the main campus.
The new policy will apply to all 12 schools within the system, including Texas A&M, one of the largest universities in the country.
The new policy states that no academic program will advocate race, sexual ideology, or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity unless previously approved by the campus president.
The new policy appears to be the first time a public university system in Texas has set rules on what faculty can talk about in their classes on topics of race and gender. Other Texas university systems also imposed restrictions on classroom teaching or began internal reviews of course offerings after the new state law.
Critics of the new policy say it will hinder faculty’s ability to teach, undermine academic freedom, and could constitute a violation of First Amendment rights.
“It really strikes at the heart of what education means and what universities do, which is to popularize the exchange of knowledge without fear of retaliation, without fear of censorship,” said Rana Jalil, chair of the American Association of University Professors’ Committee on Academic Freedom.
Various universities and their rectors across the country, incl Harvard and Colombia It has come under scrutiny from conservative critics and the end of President Donald Trump’s administration Diversity, equity and inclusion practices And their reactions to it Campus protests.
last month, Trump asked nine major universitiesincluding the University of Texas at Austin, to agree to various provisions, including commitments to remove race and gender from admissions decisions and to promote conservative views on campus.
The new policy defines “racial ideology” as “a concept that attempts to shame a particular race or ethnicity, accusing them of being oppressed in a racial hierarchy or conspiracy” or charging them with “intrinsic guilt based on the actions of their supposed ancestors or relatives.” The policy defines “gender ideology” as “the concept of a self-assessed gender identity that replaces and is separate from the biological category of sex.”
“The goal is transparency and documentation of a systematic review, not monitoring individual speech,” said James Hallmark, vice chancellor of the University of Texas A.&The University System’s Office of Academic Affairs told regents.
Official spokesman for A&System M did not immediately respond to an email Thursday seeking comment on how it would implement the policy.
The regents also approved a related policy saying that faculty “will not raise a controversial issue unrelated to the subject of the class or teach material that conflicts with the approved curriculum.”
In approving the policy on race and gender issues, the regents did not mention the September firing of Melissa McCall, a senior lecturer in the University of Texas English Department.&M University, after posting a video in which she argued with a female student over gender identity being taught in a children’s literature class. McCaul’s firing came after political pressure from Republican lawmakers, including the governor. Greg Abbott.
Shortly after McCall finished, Texas A.J&m president at the time, Mark A. resigned. Welch III. He did not give a reason for stepping down, but he and the school faced political pressure and criticism, including from Abbott, after the video was released.
Leonard Bright President of the American Association of University Professors A&Chapter M said it believes the McCall case opened the door for regents to put the policy into effect.
“Our job is to teach the facts, to teach the truth, and if … we have to use a litmus test to see whether or not that meets someone’s approval, and it could be frankly their political approval, then we don’t have the truth,” Bright, a professor at the University of Texas, said.&M’s Bush School of Governance and Public Service, told the Associated Press before the meeting.
During Thursday’s meeting, eight Texas A’s&M professors and mentors, including Bright, spoke out against the policy, and many called for McCall to be rehired.
Two A&M professors spoke in favor of the policy, including Adam Kolasinski, of the Treasury Department, who said “academic freedom does not mean you can teach whatever you want.”
Trustee Sam Torn said the policy was put in place “to make sure we are educating, not advocating.”
A Texas state law went into effect Sept. 1 prohibiting Texas K-12 schools from teaching about sexual orientation or gender identity. The law does not apply to universities and other higher education institutions.
Texas A&The M is located in College Station, about 95 miles (153 kilometers) northwest of Houston.
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