“The legislature shall as soon as practicable establish, organize and provide for the maintenance, support and direction of a University of the first class, to be located by a vote of the people of this State, and styled, ‘The University of Texas,’ for the promotion of literature, and the arts and sciences, including an Agricultural and Mechanical department.” – The Texas Constitution 1876.
I’m not sure why the lawmakers wanted UT to have “an Agricultural and Mechanical department.” The state already had Texas A&M. True, UT does have an engineering school and Bevo. Our problem today is that these fine, beautiful and very expensive schools are being ruined by a small group of billionaires and their lackeys in government and academia who will kowtow to keep their jobs. Specifically, the regents are micromanaging our public universities to reflect their knuckle-dragging, MAGA-parroting philosophies. They have run off presidents, fired deans and profs, banned DEI and all courses dealing with race, gender and anything “woke”. Gov. Greg Abbott said he is targeting professors pushing “leftist ideologies.” In a post on social media, Abbott gleefully shared an Axios article about a UT prof who said he was fired from his administrative role “due to ideological differences.”
A course called Communication, Religion and the Arts was moved out of the core curriculum, meaning it will no longer count toward graduation requirements for some students. Incidentally, do they mean core or corps? Eric Smith was commander of the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band. He is now Gen. Eric Smith, commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, or Core. And while on things militarily, A&M is the only school I can find that offers commissions in every single branch of the service including the Coast Guard and Merchant Marine.
OK, let’s say you’re not a Longhorn or an Aggie and don’t care what’s going on there, but the inquisition has spread. Last fall, the University of North Texas System began a review of faculty syllabuses, and – right here in our midst – the University of Houston System conducted a similar review. Texas Tech University System faculty members were warned not to “promote or otherwise inculcate” certain specific viewpoints about race and sex in the classroom. In 2023, the president of West Texas A&M University, Walter Wendler, canceled a drag show on campus, claiming that the show would be demeaning and offensive to women.
These regents not only control their flagship schools. Their power allows them to screw up their entire systems. UT-Austin has an enrollment of 55,000 students, but there are more than 260,000 students at academic and health institutions across the state. It is one of the largest public university systems in the world. Texas A&M-College Station’s enrollment tops 81,000, making it one of the largest, if not the largest, single-campus student bodies in America. The entire A&M system of 12 institutions is around 175,000. That’s a lot of young minds to propagandize.
A&M’s classes are censored, two were cancelled, because the profs’ lectures may violate the university system’s new rules against “advocating” race or gender ideology or topics concerning sexual orientation in core classes. In November, the A&M Board of Regents passed a sweeping rule banning such topics in lessons without a university president’s approval. The new policy came after a national controversy over a viral video of a professor teaching about gender identity in a children’s literature course. That professor was later fired, and the university president resigned.
This brings us to Plato, and I’m not talking about the planet or Mickey Mouse’s dog. A Texas A&M professor was told not to teach certain writings from Plato, which is like ordering an ob/gyn prof at a UT med school not to consider gender, or maybe there shall be no mention of Shakespeare or nouns in an English lit class. This censorship is because some of the Greek philosopher’s teachings may violate the university system’s new rules. This ban made Texas a laughingstock. An op/ed in The New York Times headlined “Can’t Teach Plato in a Philosophy Class, What Can You Teach?” warned: “The case illustrates the extent to which campus censorship has run amok in Texas.” So the word has gotten out across America: If you’re a brilliant student or a hotshot prof considering coming to the Lone Star State, don’t, because the only thing bigger in Texas are small minds. I recall this observation from a few years ago: “I was recently contacted by a headhunting firm recruiting for an academic position in Texas. I was honest in my response that I would not consider a position in Texas under the current state leadership, because it would not be safe for me or my family to live there.” That was a professor of epidemiology at the University of Arizona. Prof, it’s gotten a lot worse.
We might well ask, “Why now?’ After all, Plato’s teachings have been around since he died in 347 BC (Before Censorship).” It’s because Texas’ leaders are nothing but lapdogs to the occupant of the Oval Office. So these classroom restrictions were not hatched in Austin. Why should you care? Because you’re paying for it.
Finally, three money matters in Texas higher education. South of Amarillo there is the small town of Canyon, home to West Texas A&M University, which handles a splendid take on Texas: The Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum. It is home to the largest collection of historical materials in Texas – more than 2 million artifacts. The museum may have to close because A&M regents said there’s no more money. Next: Remember those parents who bribed coaches to let their unqualified kids enroll in “elite” universities? Stanford, Yale, and, uh, UT. (That should make a great bumper sticker.) And the Longhorn football team has stolen a receiver: Auburn’s Cam Coleman. He agreed to more than $2 million – although one source said the price tag could be as high as $3 million.
Texas should create “a University of the first class?” Sorry, class dismissed.
Ashby bleeds orange at ashby2@comcast.net