HUMAN RIGHTS
According to a report by Inside Higher Ed on Thursday, Angelo State University faculty have a deadline just before midnight on Dec. 22 to report up the chain of command regarding any courses they teach that “advocate or promote” any specific race, gender or sexual identities.
IHE reporter Emma Whitford writes: ASU professors must fill out a survey for each class they teach, and in addition to the course title and reference number, the survey asks the following questions: “Does this course include any content that advocates for or promotes race- or sex-based prejudice, as defined in the Chancellor’s memorandum? Does this course include any content that recognizes or discusses more than two sexes (male and female), or addresses gender identity beyond what is recognized under state and federal law? Does this course include any content related to sexual orientation?”
Once faculty submit their responses, they will be compiled into spreadsheets by college, which department chairs and deans will review. They then must report the outcomes to the president and provost, Angelo State University provost Don Topliff said in an email to all faculty. “Faculty will be notified of outcomes after approval,” he wrote. It is unclear exactly what curricular changes the outcomes will prompt.
Whitford goes on to report faculty at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center received a similar email this week, with a spreadsheet to fill out.
Inside Higher Ed reports faculty at the Texas Tech campus in Lubbock have yet to receive any information other than the chancellor’s Dec. 1 memorandum.
According to the publication, Texas Tech did not answer any questions about whether the same measures were being taken at Midwestern State University and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso as well, offering only the following statement via email.
“Across the System, institutions are expected to follow the established course content review process. As outlined in the Chancellor’s December 1 memorandum, department chairs and deans will review any materials used locally, with outcomes shared with the Provost and President to ensure consistency moving forward.”
Whitford spoke with ASU’s history department chair, Jason Pierce, who told Inside Higher Ed he had encouraged his faculty members to answer “no” for all three questions.
“When I filled those forms out, I put ‘no’ for all of my classes, because I do not think talking about any of these issues is advocacy or promotion,” Pierce said. “Also, in my history from the Civil War to present class, there is no way to not talk about Reconstruction, civil rights, the women’s movement. I mean, those are in every textbook … So I don’t feel like I even need to fill out a form saying that I’m going to talk about Reconstruction or civil rights or whatever, because I’m telling people what happened. I’m not advocating for a particular viewpoint.”
Whitford reports Pierce identifies the system’s crackdown with broader trends in the sector.
“There’s a deep distrust of higher ed right now across the political spectrum, but particularly on the right,” he said, “There’s this misconception that the professors want to go out and brainwash their students, and I can say, as a history professor, I don’t want my students coming out of my class thinking like I think. I want them to come out of my class thinking for themselves.”
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ABOUT: Inside Higher Ed was founded in 2004 by Scott Jaschik, Doug Lederman, and Kathlene Collins, former editors of The Chronicle of Higher Education, aiming to provide accurate, thorough, and reliable information about the professional world of higher education.
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