University of Texas System adopts new teaching limits despite faculty concerns

The University of Texas System’s governing board voted Thursday to adopt new restrictions on teaching deemed “controversial” or “contested.”

The unanimous vote came without questions or discussion from the board members, and despite numerous objections and pleas from faculty who spoke at the regents’ meeting. Many of those faculty described the policy as vague, unnecessary, and a threat to academic freedom and students’ education.

Following approval, board Chair Kevin Eltife directed UT’s chancellor and vice chancellor to work with the system’s 13 institutions “to ensure compliance with this item.”

The policy requires faculty to fairly present differing views and evidence on “reasonably disputed matters and unsettled issues,” as well as avoid controversial topics “not germane” to their courses. Faculty must disclose the topics they will discuss in their syllabi and stick to them, according to the policy.

Further, the new rules call on UT institutions to strive for “balance” in their faculty bodies and curricula in terms of viewpoints, as well as design core education requirements that students can meet without having to “study unnecessary controversial subjects.” 

They also bar faculty from attempting to “coerce, indoctrinate, harass, or belittle students, especially in addressing controversial subjects and areas where people of good faith can hold differing convictions.”

At the meeting, UT Austin professor Alex Karner described those expectations as appropriate, but added that “they’re already well established in professional norms and existing university system policies.”

He also voiced concerns over the “undefined and subjective standards” of terms like indoctrinate and belittle.

“Without clear guidance, ordinary and necessary teaching practices — things like challenging student assumptions, presenting uncomfortable historical evidence or evaluating student work critically — could be reinterpreted as violations,” Karner said.

Adele Nelson, an art history professor at UT Austin, spoke of her former students’ success in the museum world after receiving an education that equipped them with “sophisticated critical thinking skills. She said the policy “risks gambling this away and undermining expert instructors’ ability to prepare students for successful careers.”

She pointed to a work of art titled “A Logo for America” by Latin American artist Alfredo Jaar that challenges a U.S.-centric meaning of the word “America” that she often introduces in her own class. 

“Why do I show this challenging work of art early in the semesters to my students? Because it is relatable and easily legible,” Nelson said. “The work proposes a point of view unfamiliar to some of my students and invites them to understand different perspectives. They do not have to believe them. In fact, I rely on my students’ diversity of opinions to propel the analysis.”

Another UT Austin professor, David Widder, described growing up in Singapore, where “professors who criticize the wrong people or teach controversial ideas are often harassed or fired.” 

Widder argued that censoring teaching at UT institutions would reduce the value of students’ degrees. 

“It’s quite simple, we should trust that our bright students here in Texas can tackle any challenge, no matter how hard or controversial,” he said. “Learning about controversial issues helps students learn to think carefully, critically and creatively.”

The Texas conference of the American Association of University Professors blasted the policy Thursday after the meeting. The faculty group described it as a “sweeping, vague policy” that would dictate how controversial issues are taught.

The faculty group pointed to the Texas A&M University System, which recently adopted a policy that restricts teaching on topics related to race, sexual orientation and gender. 

That policy, the AAUP conference said, has led to course cancellations, “nontransparent” artificial intelligence review of syllabi, and administrators censoring certain texts by the classical Greek thinker Plato in an introductory philosophy class.