House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, said Friday he opposes a push by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to end tenure for new professors at the state’s public universities and to revoke it for faculty who teach critical race theory, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
Phelan, speaking at the Texas Tribune Festival, said the feedback he has gotten indicates ending tenure would make it more difficult for universities to recruit professors. That includes those with conservative viewpoints, who benefit from tenure’s protection against being fired for openly sharing their ideology.
Brian McCall, chancellor of the Texas State University system and a former Republican member of the Texas House, said eliminating tenure would “put the state at such a disadvantage,” the Statesman reported. “Tenure exists for a reason, and that is to get thought out,” McCall said. “We’re not running Vacation Bible School. We’re teaching physics and various things that are science and not subject to certain opinions.”
