Texas Tech restricts teaching of race and gender, faculty could be disciplined for violating rule

Texas Tech University System Chancellor Brandon Creighton enacted new restrictions on topics of race, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation in classrooms, and instructors who fail to comply could face discipline.

Creighton said instructors may not promote the idea that “one race or sex is inherently superior to another; an individual, by virtue or race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, consciously or unconsciously; any person should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of race or sex; moral character or worth is determined by race or sex; individuals bear responsibility or guilt for actions of others of the same race or sex; or meritocracy or a strong work ethic are racist, sexist or constructs of oppression,” according to a memo on Monday to university presidents.

“Promotion” was defined in the memo as “presenting these beliefs as correct or required and pressuring students to affirm them, rather than analyzing or critiquing them as one viewpoint among others.”

The memo includes a flowchart outlining a new approval process for any course content that includes the restricted topics. Faculty must submit the content to department chairs, university administrators and the Board of Regents for their review and approval.

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Instructors are told to first determine whether the material is relevant and necessary. Then, they will be asked if the material is required for professional licensure or certification or patient or client care, in which case the material may remain in the course, but the Board of Regents will be notified. If the material is not required for those purposes, instructors must seek approval to keep it by submitting it to their department chair, dean and provost, who will forward their recommendation and justification to the Board of Regents.

Creighton said in a news release that the new rules aim to offer “clarity, consistency and guardrails that protect academic excellence.”

A system representative said the memo sought to serve as a guide for faculty as they prepare for the spring semester and that the system hopes the new approval process will move quickly.

The memo states that “the integrity of this process depends on the earnest participation of every faculty member,” adding that noncompliance “may result in disciplinary action consistent with university policies and state law.”

Kelli Cargile Cook, a professor emeritus who founded Texas Tech’s Department of Professional Communication, said the memo led her to remove a class she planned to teach this spring, instead deciding to write a resignation letter.

“I’ve been teaching since 1981 and this was going to be my last class. I was so looking forward to working with the seniors in our major, but I can’t stomach what’s going on at Texas Tech,” she told The Associated Press. “I think the memo is cunning in that the beliefs that it lists are at face value, something you could agree with. But when you think about how this would be put into practice, where a Board of Regents approves a curriculum — people who are politically appointed, not educated, not researchers — that move is a slippery slope.”

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She said she was shocked by the memo’s characterization of certain race and sex concepts as “one viewpoint among many,” saying it treats settled facts “as if George Wallace being a racist is a viewpoint,” referring to the former Alabama governor who defended segregation.

Creighton’s memo said the new requirements are the “first step” in the Board of Regents’ implementation of Senate Bill 37, which he authored before he resigned from the Texas Senate to head the Texas Tech System. The law requires regents to conduct a comprehensive review of the classes all undergraduates must take to graduate to ensure they prepare students for civic and professional life and reflect Texas’ workforce needs, with the first review due in 2027.

System leaders imposed limitations on how faculty can discuss gender identity in classrooms in September after a viral video of a Texas A&M professor teaching about gender identity led to public criticism from conservatives, the professor’s firing and the university president’s resignation.

Angelo State University, one of Texas Tech University System’s five institutions, was the first to adopt changes, quietly directing faculty in September to halt discussions of transgender identities in class.

Texas Tech’s then-Chancellor Tedd L. Mitchell later issued a systemwide directive that faculty must comply with an executive order from President Donald Trump, a letter from Gov. Greg Abbott and House Bill 229, which only recognizes the sexes of male and female.

Professors told The Texas Tribune at the time that Mitchell’s guidance forced them to delay lessons, scrap terms like “transgender” and self-censor.

Creighton took over as chancellor last month after Mitchell’s retirement.

The new policies at the Texas Tech University System come after the Texas A&M University System approved a new policy last month following the controversial video that requires each campus president to sign off on any course that could be considered as advocating for “race and gender ideology or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity,” although Texas Tech’s new rules appear to go further since it requires a formal approval process that ends with the Board of Regents.

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Other universities that announced course reviews after the Texas A&M viral video controversy or in response to SB 37 have also sent new instructions to faculty.

Andrew Martin, the president of the Texas Tech chapter of the American Association of University Professors, criticized Monday’s memo as a “profound disappointment.”

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“We had hoped that our new chancellor’s time visiting the campuses of the system and getting to know students, faculty and staff would encourage finding common ground and a recognition that academic freedom is a freedom we all share, one that is foundational to a free society,” he said.

Martin argued that the new rules and process violate the First Amendment and harm transgender students and colleagues while continuing to misstate law.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.