{"id":71990,"date":"2025-12-01T21:36:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T21:36:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/71990\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T21:36:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T21:36:10","slug":"texas-tech-system-restricts-how-faculty-can-teach-race-gender-in-the-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/71990\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Tech System restricts how faculty can teach race, gender in the classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

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 \u201cinherently superior to another,\u201d according to a memo sent by Chancellor Brandon Creighton to the system\u2019s presidents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The new policy prohibits professors from promoting \u201crace or sex-based prejudice.\u201d It defines \u201cadvocacy or promotion\u201d as \u201cpresenting these beliefs as correct or required and pressuring students to affirm them.\u201d <\/p>\n

Faculty also cannot teach that there are more than two sexes, male and female, citing \u201cstate law and federal policy,\u201d according to the memo. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

The Education Lab<\/p>\n

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The new guidelines give \u201cfaculty clarity, consistency and guardrails that protect academic excellence,\u201d Creighton said in a release.<\/a> \u201cThe purpose of this framework is to support both strong academic freedom and the accountability needed to maintain excellence.\u201d <\/p>\n

His directive comes two weeks after Texas A&M System regents approved new rules that similarly limit instructors\u2019 teachings on race and gender ideology without prior approval. <\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Creighton said the new policy is necessary to comply with \u201cstate and federal law, Board of Regents policy, and Chancellor directives.\u201d The change goes into effect immediately across the system\u2019s five campuses, which serve around 64,000 students. <\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s change is the first step in Texas Tech\u2019s board of regents\u2019 review of what students are taught under Senate Bill 37, a new state law that increases state oversight of Texas\u2019 public universities<\/a>, according to the memo. The law, which was authored by Creighton, requires that governing boards review what courses students have to take to graduate. <\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Texas Tech has banned professors from teaching that there are more than two genders since September under a directive from former Chancellor Tedd Mitchell. <\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Mitchell said the guidance was necessary to \u201ccomply with both state and federal law,\u201d 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\u2019s order. He also cited a new state law that directs government entities to define sex based on a person\u2019s reproductive system.<\/p>\n

There is no state law that explicitly bans teaching or discussion of race, gender identity and sexual orientation in Texas\u2019 public universities.<\/p>\n

Under Monday\u2019s policy, professors cannot promote that an individual is \u201cinherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, consciously or unconsciously\u201d or \u201cshould be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of race or sex.\u201d <\/p>\n

They also cannot teach that \u201cindividuals bear responsibility or guilt for actions of others of the same race or sex.\u201d <\/p>\n

Faculty members will have to ensure that all course materials are \u201crelevant and necessary for classroom instruction,\u201d according to the memo. <\/p>\n

If any of a professor\u2019s class content is related to \u201crace or sex-based prejudice,\u201d 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. <\/p>\n

If professors are in violation of the new policy, they could face \u201cdisciplinary action consistent with university policy and state law,\u201d according to the memo. <\/p>\n

The new restrictions have sparked backlash from First Amendment advocates. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

Texas Tech\u2019s rules are a way for the state to espouse \u201ca certain view on race and gender,\u201d 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to call it an education if you have to just memorize what the state says is approved,\u201d Greubel said. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s wrong for Texas Tech to do it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be wrong for the next school that does it, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s journalism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texas Tech University System restricted how professors can discuss race and gender in the classroom Monday, banning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[165,4179,13352,163,166,392,287,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-71990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-ed-lab-college-careers","tag-ed-lab-politics-policy","tag-ed-lab-teaching-learning","tag-education","tag-education-lab","tag-greg-abbott","tag-politics","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}