Texas is leading the latest effort to fight rampant wokeness on college campuses. Senate Bill 18 would ban tenure for future professors at public colleges and universities. Under the bill, faculty that already have tenure would be able to keep it, but schools would be prohibited from offering tenure or any permanent employee status to new hires as of Sept. 1. The legislation is a priority of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who first called for banning tenure last year over professors pushing radical left-wing propaganda with no consequences.
Sen. Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe), who filed SB 18, argues tenure is an "outdated practice" and a "costly, unnecessary, and antiquated burden." Fellow critics of the practice agree. "Tenure originally came about to provide protection to college professors so they couldn't be fired for what they were teaching, but now we have free speech protections on campus," says Sherry Sylvester at the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), which supports SB 18.
Sylvester tells KTRH this bill is about returning accountability to faculty at public institutions. "Some of these faculty have said they do not take direction from the legislature or from anyone else, that we are not the boss of them," she says. "Of course, it's our money (funding their schools), so we are the boss of them."
At the same time, many tenured faculty can go years without any scrutiny or performance review. "We took a poll at TPPF, and a huge majority of Texans believe that professors should be reviewed annually, just as everyone else is on their jobs," says Sylvester. "Someone who continues to be an effective teacher and continues to add value to the school, will be retained just like they would on any other job."
For now SB 18 remains pending in committee without a vote. It must pass both the full House and Senate and be sent to Gov. Greg Abbott by the end of the legislative session on May 29 in order to become law.