A self-identified professors’ union has advised Texas A&M faculty to “resist” their employers’ efforts to hold them accountable for classroom instruction. In a letter, the organization outlines strategies such as documenting interactions with supervisors while obscuring faculty communications.
This guidance highlights the conflict between public servants accountable to Texans for managing state universities and the universities’ employees.
Texas Scorecard obtained a seven-page letter from the Texas chapter of the American Association of University Professors—part of the Texas American Federation of Teachers—addressed to faculty at the 12 Texas A&M University System campuses.
Texas AAUP-AFT urged faculty to refuse immediate compliance with new university policies, suggesting they use existing rules to push back, resist interference, and insist on due process, including by filing grievances.
The letter claims that each grievance forces administrators to document their actions and delays decisions by university leadership.
Texas AAUP-AFT advised faculty to request time to review relevant policies when questioned by supervisors, allowing them to consult with colleagues.
If pressed to alter their teaching, instructors are encouraged to ask administrators for detailed reasons, such as what rules were allegedly violated or what steps have been taken. The union claims this tactic slows university leadership.
Texas AAUP-AFT advised faculty to document everything, request written policies, and record conversations. This pattern of behavior has been reported at other university systems in Texas over the past week.
On September 28, The Concho Observer published what its editor said is a transcript of a recorded private meeting with members of the Angelo State Faculty, part of the Texas Tech University System, about a new policy recognizing only the biological sexes of male and female. In another article, the publication reported that ASU faculty asked questions about the new policy and complained to leadership about an alleged lack of written documentation.
While Texas AAUP-AFT encouraged faculty to record their supervisors, its letter advised them to avoid transparency for themselves. The union recommended faculty create group chats “with trusted colleagues” in their departments on encrypted platforms such as Signal and avoid using work emails for coordination. According to its letter, this enables faculty “to quickly share information about threats to academic freedom, coordinate responses, and support one another.”
Framing
Texas AAUP-AFT framed these tactics as defending state employees’ “academic freedom.”
This includes allowing faculty to discuss any topic relevant to their course, choose teaching materials and assignments, and decide how to present their subject, so long as they don’t “persistently introduce material which has no relation to the subject.”
On September 18, Mark Welsh resigned as president of Texas A&M-College Station after public uproar over his handling of a children’s literature course that included instruction on introducing LGBT and gender identity material to children as young as three. He resisted firing the classroom instructor until public outcry reached fever pitch.
The Texas-AAUP letter also noted that faculty “have freedom from institutional censorship or discipline when addressing matters of institutional policy or action,” and “when speaking or writing as a citizen.” It added that faculty should be accurate, exercise restraint, and make clear they are not representing the university in such statements.
Texas State University fired Professor Tom Alter in mid-September after his appearance at a socialist conference, where he called for the overthrow of the U.S. government. A Democrat district judge ordered his reinstatement. The university complied but will not allow him to teach courses as it continues formal termination proceedings.
Reform Era
For the past several years, revelations of university faculty promoting the LGBT and other far-left ideologies have stacked up. This triggered efforts to reform universities and increase accountability.
State lawmakers passed academic reform law Senate Bill 37 in summer 2025.
The new law rendered faculty senates as advisory-only, ending the practice of “shared governance” where universities’ boards of regents delegated authority to the university presidents, who subsequently shared power with the faculty.
Regents are accountable to Texans through the governor, who appoints them, and the state Senate, which confirms them. Before the new law, faculty senates enjoyed no such accountability.
Regents at multiple Texas public university systems have redefined faculty senates as advisory bodies only. The University of Texas System has adopted an “interim policy,” while the regents of the Texas State University System will vote in November on reconstituting their faculty senate as advisory only.
Texas AAUP-AFT did not respond to a request for comment.
Officials from the Texas A&M, Texas Tech, University of Texas, University of North Texas, University of Houston, and Texas State University systems also did not comment on the Texas AAUP-AFT letter.
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