University professors are pushing against priority legislation in the Texas Senate that would end lifetime tenure at state universities.
Senate Bill 18, filed by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, would change the law so that any public “institution of higher education may not grant an employee of the institution tenure or any type of permanent employment status.” If passed, public universities would no longer be allowed to offer tenure beginning on September 1 of this year.
On Thursday, Sen. Creighton talked about the bill with the Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education, where he said the bill “ends the practice of guaranteed lifetime employment of tenured professors” and no longer allows professors to hide behind “academic freedom,” per KUT.
The bill would only affect public universities, not private institutions. He believes permanent employment at universities has enabled some professors to express their radical ideologies and damaged the universities they work for.
“We’ve seen some professors that are pretty radical in nature,” said Creighton, per Spectrum Local News. “They are damaging the brand of our flagship universities and our other public universities under the guise of that protection.”
Those who oppose the bill believe Sen. Creighton is pushing a political agenda that limits free speech in universities.
“To suggest that people’s job security would be affected by ideological considerations, by the potential that they would be judged too far left or too far right is, I think, really kind of chilling when we think about free speech and intellectual freedom on college campuses,” said Matthew Wilson, an associate professor of political science at Southern Methodist University (SMU), per Spectrum Local News.
Although some believe there are political intentions with the bill, Sen. Creighton has said that is not why he is bringing the bill forward.
“I think there’s a complete miss to look at the impact when you just chalk it up to this being brought by the political winds,” Creighton said, per The San Antonio Express-News. “As the author, that’s not why I’m bringing this forward.”
In addition to the political effects of the bill, some professors believe that ending permanent tenure will drive potential job candidates away from the state of Texas.
“Tenure is the norm throughout higher education, not only in the United States but worldwide,” Wilson said, per Spectrum Local News. “And given a choice between a job offer in a state where a person has the opportunity at some point down the road to earn tenure, and a job offer in a state where he or she does not, that’s going to be a very powerful consideration that would attract them to the state that continues to offer tenure.
“So if Texas unilaterally handicaps itself in faculty recruitment in this way, that could have very real consequences on the quality of faculty that would be at Texas public institutions,” Wilson said.
Jeff Gardner, a sociology professor at Sam Houston State University, said jobs that offered tenure have a major advantage when searching for professors. He also confirmed that tenure was something he considered when searching for a job.
“I wanted to feel assured that my research could not be potential grounds for termination,” said Gardner, per The San Antonio Express-News. “Many excellent teachers and researchers are only looking to work in academic research positions that offer the possibility of tenure.”
The bill is currently pending with the Higher Education Subcommittee.
