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LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Incoming Texas Tech University System Chancellor Brandon Creighton visited with KCBD on a wide range of issues. In September regents appointed Creighton the system’s sixth chancellor and chief executive officer. Dr. Tedd Mitchell is retiring after 15 years with Texas Tech; he served as chancellor since 2018.
Departing a politically powerful position
In 2014 Creighton was elected as state senator to represent District 4 in Southeast Texas. He’s also a former member of the Senate Education Committee. In January he was elected president pro tempore of the state senate, one of the most powerful political positions in the state.
On his tenure in the legislature, Creighton recalled “the policy, the people, the experiences, the different subject matter that I’ve been able to touch which is so purpose-filled and purpose-driven.”
He says the greatest impact was his work on higher education.
“I worked a very long time to rise up to the chairmanship of higher education in the senate, education overall.”
Some have questioned if there is a larger plan in Austin and elsewhere to reform higher education overall by adopting more conservative objectives, including Senate Bill 17, which Creighton authored, banning DEI at public colleges and universities.
“Some look at those bills and an effort like that as conservative versus liberal,” Creighton said. “I look at those policies as what is effective and what is common sense.”
“In ten years of DEI in public universities, minority faculty recruitment and hiring went from a dismal 3.1 percent down to 1.7 percent.”
The chancellor-elect said the intended purpose of these policies was not working.
“A&M had excluded all Asian Americans from DEI. Texas Tech professors had been terminated simply for pledging to treat every student equally. It was just off the rails.
“We want to pursue every diverse outcome we can, especially diversity of viewpoint. But we want to make sure that every student is treated equally and that they have the supports that they need and that everyone wins together.
“That we’re based on merit and we’re based on accomplishment and hard work and integrity and character. Just as MLK, Martin Luther King, wrote in his letters from jail. It’s very consistent with a move to respect equality rather than an equity lift for only some.”
Faculty senates’ role
Creighton authored SB 37, which establishes faculty senates are primarily an advisory panel.
“I think that it was a gray area for a very long time on what faculty senate governance was supposed to be about on campus from the start. Which is a communicative role. An advisory role to make sure that the president and the leadership of the university did not have to approach 60 different offices for an aligned response or an informed response to a certain issue at hand.”
He said faculty senates should not be commandeering decisions that should be left to a president, chancellor or board of regents.
“Again, a return to common sense more than a shift politically. This is what we were hearing across the state from Texas families that…moms and dads that had students on all of these publicly funded university campuses.
“And they felt like, you know, many of the universities had shifted in the wrong direction. And these corrections were very much needed.”
Feedback from students, faculty
Some of the laws Creighton helped pass he will now help oversee, as chancellor. We asked if he expects to hear from some faculty who opposed this legislation.
“Of course, and I welcome, again, any diverse viewpoints. And that’s what it’s all about on a university campus in the great state of Texas. Especially one as distinguished as Texas Tech University and the system that encompasses it.”
Creighton referenced his time in the state senate.
“The 31 senators, all of us together, on any specific issue. Every single one of us had a better idea. Had a more successful solution. Had a greater command of the subject. And then what do you do with that? Eventually, and quickly, you have to narrow down on negotiations and solutions. And make decisions. That’s exactly what we’ll do here.”
Texas Tech connections
Creighton, from Conroe in Southeast Texas, has an undergraduate degree from the University of Texas and a law degree from the Oklahoma City University School of Law. He acknowledged concerns from some that he did not graduate from Texas Tech. In fact, he said it was one of the first questions raised by regents. He said it’s his responsibility to make his way through the community and connect with Texas Tech alumni.
“For a good part of the last nearly 10 years, I’ve been working to advance Texas Tech initiatives in the capitol.”
He cited his work on the senate education committee.
“While A&M and UT have been working hard in that building to hold Texas Tech initiatives back…the vet school, growth in El Paso with the Health Sciences Center, many different initiatives.
“I was working with the West Texas delegation and the speaker…making sure that our statewides understood that Texas Tech University System is the tip of the spear for the future of higher education in this state. And quite frankly, the country, with the values set, the academic success, the athletics success that is all-encompassing here.”
Like other Texas Tech chancellors, Creighton’s background is as a lawmaker, not working as a university educator. He highlights his experience and how it parallels other recent hires around the state.
“I think the big reason why A&M just went after Glenn Hager, a former lawmaker. UT just hired Dr. John Zerwas, a graduate of the University of Houston, who was a former House Budget Chairman in Austin. And Texas Tech hired me, a budget writer, Chairman of Education and Article III in the Senate. Brian McCall with the Texas State System, a previous lawmaker.
“It’s a much more effective route to go if you want the university to succeed, to grow, and to thrive with a Texas mentality. And I think that there’s no better way to ensure that than to have someone that’s already proven to have helped that university for years.
“Their commitment is clear. Their performance is clear. Their dedication is clear. And what better way to join the Red Raider family and what greater honor than to come in as Chancellor, filling very big shoes that Chancellor Ted Mitchell has as he exits.”
Vision for the system
We asked Creighton his vision as he steps into this new role.
“Well, I’m coming in at a very good time, right?”
Creighton said he has been deeply involved with the policy and funding for all of the state’s colleges and universities.
“And to focus on the upward trajectory that Texas Tech University and the system as a whole, that upward climb and where they sit right now. There is, as I mentioned before, a no-ceilings opportunity for Texas Tech academically and from an athletic standpoint for growth and for national prominence and to capture hearts and minds of so many families that are looking for this experience and this value set in a university setting.
“And I’m just very blessed to be a part of it.”
NIL, paying college athletes
A few years ago, Creighton raised concerns about name, image and likeness, and paying college athletes. He said he authored bills last three sessions, including one this year following the NCAA settlement, to ensure guardrails are in place.
“I think we have the most responsible and most effective NIL legislation in America. I think the Big Ten is modeling our bill and the state of Illinois and other states have as well taken components of it,” Creighton said.
“Senator Cruz’s effort at the federal level has significant provisions from our Texas law.
“But rather than not being a fan, I was very concerned about what name, image, and likeness, and compensation for college athletes, if not done correctly, and with some safeguards, what it would do to the locker room, how it would change college sports.
“And one situation we found ourselves in was that the plane had already taken off.”
He said he was taught don’t wait on others to resolve an issue. Do it yourself.
“That was advice from my dad from a long time ago.”
Input sought
Creighton said he is seeking input from students and faculty, and has already given some speeches on campus welcoming feedback.
“My door is wide open to all viewpoints, all student organizations, and I plan to meet with as many as I can. And part of that will depend on invitations and when it’s good for them.
“And then we’ll have some advisory roles and some invitations to come into the system office so that we can have some meetings and so that I can better understand a day in the life of students here and also their goals and exactly how I can help them further those goals.
“I had a very difficult road in higher education personally, family struggles, financial struggles. I was working as a pipe fitter and a welder for a chemical plant before I went to work in the capital. And I maxed out guaranteed student loans. I borrowed money from family, friends. I did everything I could to survive.
“And so my goal is to reach the hearts and minds of these students and adult learners and help them achieve their goals.”
RELATED STORY: Texas Tech regents thank Dr. Tedd Mitchell for service as Chancellor-elect Creighton prepares to step in
RELATED STORY: Dr. Tedd Mitchell reflects on his many unexpected years in Lubbock
Creighton will begin his tenure as chancellor Nov. 19.
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