Texas Tech Sued Over Limiting Teaching Of Race And Gender
Texas Tech Sued Over Rule Limiting Teaching Of Race And Gender
Over the last several years, Texas has made a concerted effort to censor higher education and teach a revisionist version of American history. A group of Texas Tech faculty is pushing back against those efforts by suing the school system over its ban on teaching topics related to race, gender, and sexuality.
The Washington Post reports that the American Association of University Professors and the Texas AAUP-AFT sued Texas Tech System Chancellor Brandon Creighton over two memos he issued in December and April. Creighton, a former Republican state senator, told faculty in the first memo that they could face disciplinary action if they didn’t abide by rules limiting course content involving race, sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation. If faculty members want to teach subjects related to those topics, they must first gain approval from the Board of Regents.
According to ABC 13, the second memo went further in phasing out academic programs focused on sexual orientation and gender identity. The new rule requires professors in core and lower-level undergraduate courses to use alternative materials if any of the curriculum includes those topics.
In the complaint, which was filed on Wednesday, the faculty groups provided several examples of how these new rules have been implemented.
From ABC 13:
It alleges a Texas Tech Health Sciences Center professor in Lubbock was told medical students could not participate in or observe care for transgender patients, even when those patients sought treatment for unrelated conditions such as hypertension, migraines or cancer. It also says a professor was told a Holocaust course would have to leave the core curriculum if it included instruction on gay and bisexual victims of the Nazis, and that regents barred professors from teaching Plato’s Republic and Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ National Book Award-winning book about racism in America.
The complaint also alleges an instructor at Texas Tech Health Sciences Center El Paso was told to not use the word “disparity” in class, affecting their ability to adequately teach students because El Paso County residents have a higher prevalence of diabetes. In addition, women along the Texas-Mexico border have a higher rate of cervical cancer mortality, children are hospitalized more for asthma in border counties, and the pregnancy-related mortality rate among Black women in Texas is 2.5 times higher than that of white women, according to the complaint.
Creighton spent much of his time in the state legislature pushing legislation that gave the state government more control over what’s taught in public universities, as well as pushing back against diversity initiatives. Fun fact: Creighton drafted the law banning DEI initiatives in Texas public schools. Creighton became chancellor of the Texas Tech System last November, and clearly wasted no time coming through with the nonsense.
“Chancellor Creighton is trying to do through fiat what he couldn’t accomplish in the Texas legislature: erase the history, identities, and lived experiences of LGBTQ people and people of color from the classroom,” said Nicholas Hite, senior attorney at Lambda Legal, one of the law firms representing the faculty groups.
A spokeswoman for the Texas Tech System issued a statement pushing back against the allegations in the lawsuit. “Our commitment to academic integrity and the First Amendment rights of our students will not be distracted by lawsuits as we continue to deliver rigorous academic programs, relevant coursework, and groundbreaking research,” spokeswoman Erin Wilson said in a statement.
I don’t know how they can say they’re committed to academic integrity and the First Amendment when they’re actively censoring speech and forcing instructors to downplay or outright ignore key historical facts that don’t align with conservative ideology. That’s not giving Texas Tech students “degrees of value” as Creighton has argued; it’s simply making their education less competitive.
The simple truth is that Creighton’s rules prioritize Republican feelings over reality. Sadly, that’s just becoming the norm at all levels of education in Texas.
SEE ALSO:
Texas Schools To Require Students To Read Bible Verses
Texas Wants Turning Point USA In Every High School
Texas Universities Going All In On Censorship And Anti-DEI Policies
Texas A&M Professors Need Approval To Talk About Race And Gender
Texas Tech Sued Over Rule Limiting Teaching Of Race And Gender was originally published on newsone.com
