XPost: alt.education, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.republicans   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: bye.woke@tamu.edu   
      
   On 07 Dec 2021, Steve Cummings  posted some   
   news:soomgh$kus$36@news.dns-netz.com:   
      
   > Any activist spouting this shit needs to be exterminated.   
      
   The Texas Legislature made strident moves this session to change how   
   students, teachers, and administrators will conduct themselves at public   
   universities in Texas, changing how diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)   
   offices and professor tenure will be managed.   
      
   Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe) has been the leader of the education   
   vanguard this session as he authored both Senate Bills (SB) 17 and 18.   
      
   The mission of the Senate and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to end tenure for   
   public university professors has been a priority since last year and   
   finally crossed the finish line over the weekend, but not without some   
   caveats.   
      
   The original version of SB 18 would have outright banned professor tenure   
   at public universities, but after reformulations in the House Committee on   
   Higher Education, the bill now allows tenure to be granted but only   
   through the university’s governing board, on the recommendation of the   
   university’s chief executive officer and university system’s chancellor.   
      
   Reactions to the bill’s passage sparked a range of responses.   
      
   The Texan Tumbler   
      
   The University of Texas at Austin American Association of University   
   Professors, which has been a stark opponent to the legislation, said that   
   they didn’t believe that the codification of tenure in state law is   
   necessary and that they are “concerned with dangerously broad grounds for   
   termination in the bill as well as the lack of the due process   
   provisions.”   
      
   With SB 18 now agreed upon by both chambers, the next step will be for   
   college tenure to be enshrined into law by the governor.   
      
   Another piece of priority legislation related to higher education was   
   passed over the weekend in SB 17, which would ban DEI offices at Texas   
   public universities.   
      
   The bill also went through significant revisions in committee hearings,   
   notably changing the provision that an institute of higher education “may   
   not establish or maintain” a DEI office by adding in the clause “except as   
   required by federal law.”   
      
   Additional changes to the organizational structure of the bill include   
   provisions allowing universities to highlight their “first-generation,”   
   “low-income,” and “underserved” students in accrediting and grant   
   application purposes. “Academic course instruction” and the “activity of a   
   student organization” are also protected in the bill.   
      
   “Today marks a victory for citizens’ right to free speech under the First   
   Amendment, Texas universities, and our commitment to fostering true   
   diversity and merit in higher education,” Creighton said in a statement   
   after SB 17 was passed.   
      
   “The elimination of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion offices will result   
   in millions in savings for taxpayers and restore a culture of free   
   inquiry, meritocracy, equal opportunity, genuine innovation within Texas   
   higher education.”   
      
   With both bills now passed by the upper and lower chambers, the last step   
   is for each to be signed into law by the governor.   
      
   https://thetexan.news/texas-legislature-passes-ban-on-dei-offices-and-   
   tenure-reform-at-public-universities/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)