The Texas Tech University System restricted how professors can discuss race and gender in the classroom Monday, banning content that advocates for one race or sex as “inherently superior to another,” according to a memo sent by Chancellor Brandon Creighton to the system’s presidents.
The new policy prohibits professors from promoting “race or sex-based prejudice.” It defines “advocacy or promotion” as “presenting these beliefs as correct or required and pressuring students to affirm them.”
Faculty also cannot teach that there are more than two sexes, male and female, citing “state law and federal policy,” according to the memo.
Professors will also have to submit course content related to sexual orientation, gender identity and race for review under the new policy. Department and university leadership, as well as a regents committee, must sign off on the content, or it will be removed from the class.
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The new guidelines give “faculty clarity, consistency and guardrails that protect academic excellence,” Creighton said in a release. “The purpose of this framework is to support both strong academic freedom and the accountability needed to maintain excellence.”
His directive comes two weeks after Texas A&M System regents approved new rules that similarly limit instructors’ teachings on race and gender ideology without prior approval.
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Creighton said the new policy is necessary to comply with “state and federal law, Board of Regents policy, and Chancellor directives.” The change goes into effect immediately across the system’s five campuses, which serve around 64,000 students.
Monday’s change is the first step in Texas Tech’s board of regents’ review of what students are taught under Senate Bill 37, a new state law that increases state oversight of Texas’ public universities, according to the memo. The law, which was authored by Creighton, requires that governing boards review what courses students have to take to graduate.
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Texas Tech has banned professors from teaching that there are more than two genders since September under a directive from former Chancellor Tedd Mitchell.
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Mitchell said the guidance was necessary to “comply with both state and federal law,” pointing to a presidential executive order that recognizes only two sexes and a letter from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that directed state agency heads to follow Trump’s order. He also cited a new state law that directs government entities to define sex based on a person’s reproductive system.
There is no state law that explicitly bans teaching or discussion of race, gender identity and sexual orientation in Texas’ public universities.
Under Monday’s policy, professors cannot promote that an individual is “inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, consciously or unconsciously” or “should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of race or sex.”
They also cannot teach that “individuals bear responsibility or guilt for actions of others of the same race or sex.”
Faculty members will have to ensure that all course materials are “relevant and necessary for classroom instruction,” according to the memo.
If any of a professor’s class content is related to “race or sex-based prejudice,” sexual orientation or gender identity, a department chair, dean and provost, as well as the Academic, Clinical and Student Affairs Committee of the Board of Regents, must sign off on the content.
If professors are in violation of the new policy, they could face “disciplinary action consistent with university policy and state law,” according to the memo.
The new restrictions have sparked backlash from First Amendment advocates.
Greg Greubel, an attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said the vagueness of the rules could open the door to rampant censorship. Professors could be reprimanded for teaching a controversial topic, like race or gender, he said.
Texas Tech’s rules are a way for the state to espouse “a certain view on race and gender,” he said. The rules contradict what he said is the mission of universities: to be a place where students engage with a variety of perspectives.
“It’s hard to call it an education if you have to just memorize what the state says is approved,” Greubel said.
With curriculum reviews underway at university systems across Texas, Greubel urged students and faculty to push back against rules limiting race and gender identity in curriculum.
“It’s wrong for Texas Tech to do it,” he said. “It’s going to be wrong for the next school that does it, too.”
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.