Texas colleges and universities could face more oversight — including over who is hired, what is taught and how they are following the law — under a wide-ranging priority bill filed Thursday.
The Senate proposal would give governor-appointed boards of regents more power to overturn decisions made by campus leaders and review curriculum. The bill also would reduce the role of faculty senates and create a new office to investigate concerns at state schools.
Introduced by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, Senate Bill 37 is of one Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s top 40 priorities. Patrick has long said he wants to roll back the “woke left” that is rampant on college campuses.
“By reaffirming the authority of the Board of Regents, SB 37 clearly defines university governance roles while increasing transparency in policies, hiring, curriculum, and financial decisions,” Creighton said in a statement.
“With taxpayer dollars and students’ futures at stake, universities must operate with accountability,” he added.
Others saw the bill as “an attack on faculty’s role in governance in colleges and universities,” the University of Texas at Austin chapter of the American Association of University Professors said in a statement.
“Shared governance is one of AAUP’s top priorities and central to the protection of academic freedom and faculty’s status as professionals,” the statement read.
In a statement, the Texas Conference of AAUP said the legislature is “attempting to micromanage and overregulate universities that are already thriving.”
The group noted that Gov. Greg Abbott bragged about Texas leading the nation in top research universities on social media Thursday. The state recently significantly expanded the number of schools reaching tier 1 status.
“This happens because we have top-notch faculty,” AAUP’s statement read.
Under the bill, governing boards would have expanded authority that includes the ability to overrule decisions made by school administrators. The boards would have to send annual reports to the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the House and each state lawmaker on their hiring, curriculum and other issues.
The state’s university systems — such as the University of Texas and Texas A&M — have regents who are appointed by the governor. Community college boards, such as Dallas College, tend to have trustees elected by voters.
Regents and college boards would have final say over what’s included in “core curriculum,” after a committee review of material to ensure the curriculum does not “endorse specific public policies, ideologies or legislation.” A general education review committee — appointed by the board — would make recommendations on maintaining or eliminating courses.
Meanwhile, the governing boards would be responsible for hiring the positions of vice president, provost, associate or assistant provost and dean, according to the bill. Historically, faculty members and other administrators are involved in interviewing and hiring processes for these positions.
Faculty senates or councils would be overhauled to limit their power and could be established only by governing boards under the proposal. For example, faculty members wouldn’t be allowed in decision-making during a grievance review or faculty discipline.
Typically, faculty senates develop curricula and approve academic policies. They reflect and express the views of faculty members to university leadership and are a way for faculty to participate in academic governance.
Emarely Rosa-Dávila, an associate professor of social work and speaker of the faculty senate at Texas Woman’s University, said faculty senates help school leaders address concerns and policies on a campus.
“Faculty senates add value to the governance of any institution,” she said. That requires open communication and a transparent process, she added. For example, faculty senates typically provide feedback on policy changes under consideration.
They can also initiate votes of no-confidence in university leadership. Only regents can remove a president, but the action allows faculty members to publicly express their concerns.
Under the bill, the head of faculty senates or councils would be appointed by the campus’ president with consent of the governing board.
Such senates would have advisory roles only. Those serving on them would need to be tenured faculty, with two representatives from each college or school on campus — one appointed by institution presidents and one elected by peers.
Sherry Sylvester, of the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, said faculty senates don’t have power in state law.
“The Constitution empowers the boards of regents to run our universities,” Sylvester said.
Under Creighton’s bill, schools would have to ensure that courses are “foundational and fundamental,” prepare students for civic and professional life, equip students for the workforce and “do not endorse policies, ideologies or legislation.”
In 2023, Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a ban on programs and offices related to diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, at public colleges and universities. That ban did not stretch into what was taught in courses.
During interim hearings this summer, however, Creighton noted that, while DEI-related material in classes didn’t break the law, it “indeed contradicts its spirit.”
The new bill would block schools from spending state funds until they submit a report to the Legislature showing compliance with state laws.
The proposal includes a new “office of excellence in higher education” — with a director appointed by the governor — to investigate concerns that schools aren’t complying with state law. Findings could be turned over to the state’s attorney general, according to the bill.
In the months after Texas banned DEI in state colleges and universities, hidden cameras recorded various staff across the schools discussing ways they continued serving students despite the law.
That prompted a letter from Creighton, who authored the DEI-ban legislation, to higher education leaders stressing that they risked losing millions in state funding if they continued diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Last month, Creighton and Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, sent a letter to college leaders noting they found instances where schools continued DEI work under a different name, particularly at health-related institutions, so they were freezing state funding at previous levels.
All state colleges and universities were expected to give lawmakers “clear and indisputable evidence that DEI programming has been fully eliminated from operations” and that leaders were complying with the “letter and spirit of the law,” according to the letter.
Education Lab editor Eva-Marie Ayala contributed to this report.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism, Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
