AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick during a press conference on Friday announced that during the next legislative session he will prepare a bill that would end tenure for new college professors in the state and strip tenure from professors who teach so-called critical race theory.

What You Need To Know

  • Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Friday said he will draft legislation to end tenure for new professors in the state and strip tenure from professors who teach so-called critical race theory

  • That came after some University of Texas at Austin faculty members passed a nonbinding resolution defending their right to teach about race and gender issues

  • UT Austin President Jay Hartzell on Monday released a statement in which he said ending tenure would "cripple" the university and harm students 

  • Texas has a law that limits what K-12 teachers can discuss concerning race, gender and controversial topics. It does not extend to colleges and universities

That announcement came after a nonbinding resolution was passed by the Faculty Council at the University of Texas at Austin defending the rights of faculty members to teach about race and gender issues, including critical race theory.

“I will not stand by and let looney Marxist UT professors poison the minds of young students with Critical Race Theory. We banned it in publicly funded K-12 and we will ban it in publicly funded higher ed. That’s why we created the Liberty Institute at UT,” Patrick wrote in a tweet.

Texas has a law in place banning the teaching of critical race theory in K-12 schools, but that doesn’t extend to colleges and universities.

Patrick’s threat to end tenure in Texas isn’t sitting well with some professors and administrators. University of Texas at Austin President Jay Hartzell on Monday released a lengthy statement in which he said ending tenure, which provides professors with a great deal of freedom to pursue research as well as job security, would have devastating effects on the university. 

“Removing tenure would not only cripple Texas’ ability to recruit and retain great faculty members, it would also hurt Texas students, who would not be able to stay in state knowing that they will be learning from the very best in the country. It would also increase the risk of universities across the state making bad decisions for the wrong reasons,” he wrote.

Patrick said tenure is outdated in Texas, but Hartzell argued that it keeps the best and brightest professors in the Lone Star State and that mechanisms are in place to prevent it from leading to “unproductive behavior.”

“We implemented and maintain an annual review process to help monitor faculty productivity, with required steps to improve unsatisfactory performance. We also conduct a comprehensive review of all tenured faculty members every six years. These reviews provide mechanisms that can eventually lead to dismissal of any faculty member if needed,” he wrote.

Hartzell’s statement echoes an earlier tweet by UT law professor Stephen Vladeck.

“Just to say this directly, if this proposal actually makes its way into law, it will simply destroy @UTAustin’s ability to compete with any other research university in the country,” he wrote.