Texas lt. gov. expands fight against critical race theory to universities

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) said Friday that he wants to end tenure for public university professors in order to fight against critical race theory (CRT), The Texas Tribune reports.

Patrick said that members of university faculty “indoctrinate” students when they teach about race in a way that corresponds with the tenets of CRT.

“I’m not going to pay for that nonsense,” he said.

“Go to a private school, let them raise their own funds to teach, but we’re not going to fund them,” he added.

These comments were in response to a resolution passed Monday by the University of Texas at Austin Faculty Council that reaffirmed the school’s freedom to teach on racial justice issues including CRT, according to the Tribune.

The resolution read: “Legislative proposals and enactments seek to prohibit academic discussions of racism and related issues if the discussion would be ‘divisive’ or suggest ‘blame’ or cause ‘psychological distress but fail to recognize that these criteria … chill the capacity of educators to exercise their academic freedom and use their expertise to make determinations regarding content and discussions that will serve educational purposes.”

Patrick said he wants to change state law to allow the teaching of CRT to be a valid reason to revoke the tenure of university professors.

He additionally proposed that Texas change the tenure review period to an annual basis rather than every six years.

A day before to Patrick’s comments, the Texas Education Agency confirmed to the Tribune that it will now require charter schools to submit a “statement of assurance” that the schools will follow laws on CRT before they are allowed to officially open.