PUBLIC NOTICE: Texas' Anti-CRT-for-Higher-Education HB 1607 Has Just Been Filed

Dear Students, Friends and Colleagues:

Just as we anticipated, here is the "Anti-CRT-for-Higher-Education bill," House Bill 1607 authored by Rep. Cody Harris (R-District 8) who represents Palestine, Texas, where whites are the majority, located just North of Houston.

This maps on to anti-DEI initiative HB 1006 authored by Rep. Carl Tepper (R-District 84) who represents Lubbock County, Texas.

As someone who has taught Critical Race Theory at the University of Texas at Austin for well over a decade, I can tell you that it's not even a curriculum at the higher education level. It is but one framework among so many others that we teach, including human capital theory, social and cultural reproduction, resistance theory, linguistic studies, discourse theory, policy network theory, feminist frameworks, disability studies, postcolonial frameworks, and so on. Too many to name. 

This is obviously a "red meat" issue that plays to the ideologies of narrow constituencies and is potentially injurious to higher education faculty in terms of what we know and enjoy as academic freedom in the academy. 

Moreover, together with HB 1006, these proposals potentially put our entire enterprise in the crosshairs of a  legislative agenda that is not only about censorship—and thusly, profoundly anti-democratic—but also squanders our loftiest purposes on the value not just of higher education, but any education that encourages youth to think in complex, meaningful ways to make a better world.

Stay tuned. More to come.

-Angela Valenzuela

#SayNoToCensorship #HB1607 #HB1006

88R8371 KJE-D
	By: Harris of Anderson	H.B. No. 1607

	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
	AN ACT
	relating to prohibiting certain instruction as part of a course at a
	public institution of higher education.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Subchapter Z, Chapter 51, Education Code, is
	amended by adding Section 51.982 to read as follows:
	Sec. 51.982.  CERTAIN INSTRUCTION PROHIBITED. (a) In this
	section, "institution of higher education" has the meaning assigned
	by Section 61.003.
	(b)  An institution of higher education may not require or
	make part of a course inculcation in the concept that:
	(1)  one race or sex is inherently superior to another
	race or sex;
	(2)  an individual, by virtue of the individual's race
	or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether
	consciously or unconsciously;
	(3)  an individual should be discriminated against or
	receive adverse treatment solely or partly because of the
	individual's race or sex;
	(4)  an individual's moral character, standing, or
	worth is necessarily determined by the individual's race or sex;
	(5)  an individual, by virtue of the individual's race
	or sex, bears responsibility, blame, or guilt for actions committed
	by other members of the same race or sex;
	(6)  meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are
	racist or sexist or were created by members of a particular race to
	oppress members of another race; or
	(7)  with respect to their relationship to American
	values, slavery and racism are anything other than deviations from,
	betrayals of, or failures to live up to the authentic founding
	principles of the United States, which include liberty and
	equality.
	(c)  An institution of higher education that violates this
	section is ineligible to receive state funds.
	(d)  The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board shall
	adopt rules as necessary to enforce this section.
	SECTION 2.  Section 51.982, Education Code, as added by this
	Act, applies beginning with the 2023-2024 academic year.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
	Act takes effect September 1, 2023.