SB 37, authored by Sen. Brandon Creighton, fundamentally reshapes how colleges and universities approach curriculum, course selection and other elements tied to instruction. Among its provisions:
- It establishes a method to file complaints about schools suspected of not complying with such changes
- It creates a state-appointed committee to assess which core curricula are "foundational" and which could be cut
- The group would include members appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor and Texas House speaker—none of whom are required to be students, faculty or university administrators to serve on the committee
- It calls for colleges and universities to end or revise degree programs if the state (under the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board review) deems the programs do not offer a return on investment for students
- It requires that courses cannot "require or attempt to require a student to adopt any race, sex, or ethnicity or social or political or religious belief is inherently superior to any other."
Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who gives Neanderthals a bad name, gloated on social media:
In a triumphant post following the final passage of Senate Bill 37, Patrick wrote that UT-Austin’s faculty senate had its "power stripped" and learned that "the Legislature does have authority over faculty senates after all!" He ended the post with a pointed farewell, saying goodbye to the "looney Marxist professors" in five languages.
In the post on X, Patrick noted that in 2021, the UT-Austin faculty senate "arrogantly" stated that they were not accountable to the Texas Legislature or UT's board of regents.
Subsequently, the members passed a resolution stating that they would teach Critical Race Theory or the academic field that explores the dynamics between race, ethnicity, law and society, "no matter what the Legislature or taxpayers thought."
"I replied at the time: 'I will not stand by and let looney Marxist UT professors poison the minds of young students with Critical Race Theory,'" Patrick wrote. "'We banned it in publicly funded K-12, and we would ban it in publicly funded higher ed.'"
Patrick encouraged such professors to find a "friendly blue state" to move to so Texas schools could fill their roles with "quality conservative professors who will teach critical thinking."
Alas, this cave dweller doesn't know what either Marxism or Critical Race Theory are.
(Thanks to Ruchira Paul for the pointer.)
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