Four professors have recently resigned from the University of North Texas, with one citing concerns over a state law banning diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and hiring practices at public universities.
All four professors were a part of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Department of Political Science.
One professor who spoke up, Wendy Watson, said she left over concerns that a possible expansion to the law could affect a course she teaches: Gay Rights and the Constitution.
Current law, Senate Bill 17, does not prohibit teaching diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) or critical race theory in curriculum or class instruction. However, a measure to expand SB 17 to course content has already been introduced by State Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian).
UNT’s political science department chair, Josh Ishiyama, told the student newspaper North Texas Daily that he has seen a pattern in faculty leaving, with worries about the implications of SB 17 as one of the reasons cited.
Surveys conducted by the American Association of University Professors have consistently indicated that Texas professors are worried about the state’s political climate.
An August 2024 AAUP survey of roughly 1,000 faculty members showed that 61 percent would not recommend a Texas position to their colleagues, and about a quarter planned to interview elsewhere in 2024.
Barrett Taylor, a professor of counseling and higher education at UNT, told Inside Higher Ed that he thinks a faculty exodus is merely a narrative. “With the current data we have, it’s very difficult to adjudicate between these competing narratives,” Taylor said.
Moreover, a large-scale faculty exodus may also be unrealistic due to the increasingly competitive academic job market, which offers fewer tenure-track opportunities.
“Contrary to the fears expressed by some, the latest higher-education statistics suggest that SB 17 will not have a depressing effect on faculty applications to Texas institutions of higher education,” explained Tom Lindsay, distinguished senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Lindsay pointed to a UUAP study showing that about three-quarters of all faculty positions are non-tenure track, which indirectly increases competition for the remaining tenure-track slots.
Based on historical data, Lindsay roughly estimates a ratio of 50 to 100 applicants per tenure track position at Texas public universities.
“Therefore, while not definitive, the data demonstrate that the ratio of applicants to tenure-track positions at Texas public universities is high, potentially in the range of dozens to over a hundred applicants per job, reflecting the national trend of increased competition for academic positions,” Lindsay said.
“Finally, Texas is only one of many states that has passed or is considering passing legislation to ban DEI offices, staff, and training at public universities,” Lindsay continued. “Texas is no outlier here. Quite the opposite.”
Even the University of Florida, which was once the center of conservative higher education reforms, reported that its overall turnover only went from 7 percent in 2021 to 9.3 percent in 2023. Its College of the Arts was particularly affected.
In response to an article about liberal-leaning faculty leaving red states, investigative journalist and activist Christopher Rufo posted on X that their departures are a “net gain.”
“Woke out-migration is a benefit, not a cost, of good academic policies,” said Rufo. “Professors who want to practice D.E.I.-style discrimination, facilitate the sexual amputation of minors, and replace scholarship with partisan activism are free to do so elsewhere.”
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