For the first time in Texas higher education history, public state institutions have placed restrictions on classroom discussion about gender identities. Late last month, Angelo State University banned classroom dialogue on transgender and gender identities, while the Texas Tech University System placed limitations on classroom instruction of these subjects.
These restrictions have been placed amid current concerns regarding free speech and academic freedom in Texas colleges. Angelo State officials have given instructions to their professors not to discuss transgender and nonbinary identities in their courses, according to faculty. Professors who spoke anonymously to the Texas Tribune — out of a valid fear of termination — have claimed a written policy does not exist, and Brittney Miller, a spokesperson for the school, has declined to provide details about the bans or share a policy.
Jason Pierce, Chair of the History Department at ASU, has said in an email to faculty that “LGB information and content is acceptable,” and that “It is only transgender that is forbidden.” Pierce has also stated in emails to his department faculty that ASU will not “back up or defend” professors who discuss these topics in the classroom. It is insolent for ASU to threaten its educators while providing no written policy or rulebook for these restrictions.
The state continues its attempts to dishonor and dismantle the transgender community and place guardrails on diversity, equity and inclusion education, while ASU backs itself with irrelevant bills and orders. Miller has only shared that the university is following President Donald Trump’s executive order to recognize birth-assigned genders, Gov. Greg Abbott’s letter to “reject woke gender ideologies” and House Bill 229, which requires binary definitions of gender for “governmental information.” However, no federal law has a clear definition of sex and identity. Abbott’s letter does not create law, and HB 229 does not mention higher education. While some may argue these are loopholes, there is no defined “no-go” line for the mention of gender identity in classrooms, making these classroom bans yet another attack on the First Amendment.
The Texas Tech University System has followed a similar path, vaguely ordering its five universities to limit classroom dialogue about transgender and nonbinary identities. Little instruction has been given regarding these limits; however, in an uncanny similarity, Texas Tech Chancellor Tedd Mitchell said that faculty — while acting as instructors — must follow the aforementioned executive order, Abbott’s letter and HB 229. Ironically, Mitchell’s language kindly points out how these orders and laws are not enforceable by law: “While recognizing the First Amendment rights of employees in their personal capacity, faculty must comply with these laws in the instruction of students, within the course and scope of their employment.”
As the nation’s First Amendment rights continue to be threatened and its entities collapse under the pressure, Texas happily threatens its people’s rights on its own accord. ASU and Texas Tech are carelessly attacking their faculty and students’ academic freedom and further stigmatizing their transgender communities. These restrictions have killed two birds with one stone, pushing Texas’ anti-trans and anti-free speech agenda.
