This legislation is detailed in a new white paper published by theCenter for the Defense of Academic Freedom, a project established by the American Association of University Professors, or AAUP.
Taken together, this legislative onslaught has undermined academic freedom and institutional autonomy in five distinct and overlapping ways.
As detailed in the report, state legislators introduced 99 academic gag orders during legislative sessions in 2021, 2022 and 2023. All of the 10 gag orders signed into law were done so by Republican governors. These bills assert that teaching about structural racism, gender identity or unvarnished accounts of American history harm students.
These gag orders are widely known as “divisive concept” or “anti-CRT” bills. CRT is an acronym for critical race theory, an academic framework that holds racism as deeply embedded in America’s legal and political systems. The partisan activists, such asChristopher Rufo, have used this term to generate a “moral panic” as part of a political response to the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.
FLORIDA’S “STOP WOKE ACT”
COURTESY OF DOS.FL.GOV
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
For example, in April 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 7, the “Stop Woke Act.” The law defines a “divisive concept” as any of eight vague claims. They include claims that “Such virtues as merit, excellence, hard work, fairness, neutrality, objectivity, and racial colorblindness are racist or sexist.”
U.S. District Judge Mark Walker described this law as “positively dystopian.” He noted that the government’s own lawyers admitted that the law would likely make any classroom discussion concerning the merits of affirmative action illegal. The vague wording of these gag orders has achilling effect, leaving many faculty unsure about what they can and cannot legally discuss in the classroom.
2. BANS ON DEI PROGRAMS
The expansion of diversity, equity and inclusion – or DEI – services on campus was a major outcome of the racial justice protests in 2020. By 2023, however, the legislative backlash was in full swing. Forty bills restricting DEI efforts were introduced during the 2023 legislative cycle, with seven signed into law.
For example,Texas’ Senate Bill 17drew directly from model policy language developed by Rufo and published by theManhattan Institute, a right-wing think tank. SB 17 banned diversity statements and considerations in hiring. It also restricted campus diversity training and defunded campus DEI offices at Texas’ public universities.
As detailed in the AAUP white paper, only a handful of people testified in favor of SB 17, and almost all had stated or unstated affiliations with right-wing think tanks. In contrast, more than a hundrededucators and citizens testified, or registered to testify, againstthe bill. Since its passage, Texas public universities have seen the closing of DEI programs and reduced campus services for students from minority populations. For example, after the Legislature accused the University of Texas-Austin of violating SB 17, the school was forced to shut down its DEI office. This involvedlaying off 40 employees.
3. WEAKENING TENURE
Tenure was developed to shield faculty members from external political pressure. The protections of tenure make it possible for faculty to teach, research and speak publicly without fear of losing their jobs because their speech angers those in power.
FLORIDA AND TEXAS BILLS PASSED
As detailed in the report, however, during the 2021, 2022 and 2023 legislative sessions, 20 bills were introduced, with two bills weakening tenure protections signed into lawin Floridaand anotherin Texas.
In Florida, for example, SB 7044created a system of post-tenurereview, empowering administrators to review tenured faculty every five years. The law further empowers administrators to dismiss those whose performance is deemed unsatisfactory. The law also requires that faculty post course content in a public and searchable database.
TheAAUP criticized the law, noting that SB 7044 has “substantially weakened tenure in the Florida State University System and, if fully implemented as written,” would effectively “eliminate tenure protections.” Now even tenured faculty have reason to fear that what they teach might be construed as a “divisive concept,” as CRT, or as promoting DEI.
4. MANDATING CONTENT
Lawmakers in several states have also passed legislation mandating viewpoint diversity, establishing new academic programs and centers to teach conservative content and shifting curricular decision-making away from the faculty.
FLORIDA’S BILL
COURTESY OF FLDOE.ORG
Manny Diaz, Florida education commissioner
For example,Florida’s Senate Bill 266expanded the Hamilton Center for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida, without faculty input or oversight. The original proposal for the Hamilton Center stated that the center’s goal was to advance “a conservative agenda” within the curriculum.
SB 266 also gave the governing boards overseeing the university and college systems the authority to decide which classes count toward the core curriculum. This power was exercised in November 2023 after Manny Diaz, the education commissioner in Florida, requested that the boards removean introduction to sociology course. He stated on social media that the discipline had been “hijacked by left-wing activistsand no longer serves its intended purpose as a general knowledge course for students.”
5. WEAKENING ACCREDITATION
The accreditation process is an obscure area of academic governance whereby colleges and universities regularly subject themselves to external peer review. Nonprofit accrediting agencies conduct these institutional performance reviews.
As detailed in the report, during the 2021-23 legislative cycles, six bills were introduced – three of them were passed into law – weakening the accreditation process, thereby making it easier for political interests to shape university policy.
NORTH CAROLINA ALLOWS COLLEGES TO “SHOP” FOR AN
ACCREDITING AGENCY
For example, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, warned the school’s board of trustees that establishing theSchool of Civic Life and Leadershipwithout faculty oversight and consultation raised serious concerns about institutional independence. The Legislature responded withSenate Bill 680, which would require that North Carolina public universities choose a different accrediting agency each accreditation cycle. Eventually passed as part of the omnibus House Bill 8, this policy allows schools to“shop” for an accrediting agencyless likely to object to such political interference in the curriculum.
These five overlapping and reinforcing attacks on academic freedom and institutional autonomy threaten to radically transform public higher education in ways that serve the partisan interests of those in power.
***
Isaac Kamola is an associate professor of political science at Trinity College, Hartford, CT. His research examines the political economy of higher education, critical globalization studies, and African anticolonial theory. His scholarly work has appeared in International Studies Quarterly, International Political Sociology, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Millennium, Journal of Academic Freedom, African Identities, Journal of Higher Education in Africa, Third World Quarterly, Alternatives, Cultural Politics, Polygraph, and Transitions as well as numerous edited volumes.
Isaac is the creator of Faculty First Responders, a program that monitors right-wing attacks on academics and provides resources to help faculty members and administrators respond to manufactured outrage. And he currently serves as the director of the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom at the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).
This articleis republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons license.
The Conversationis a nonprofit, independent news organization dedicated to unlocking the knowledge of experts for the public good. They publish trustworthy and informative articles written by academic experts for the general public and edited by our team of journalists.
