Right-Wing Extremism, antisemitism, and a fractured Texas GOP

Friends:

If you've not kept up, the Republican Party of Texas is battling internal divisions. A fallout occurred after a meeting between the then-president of the Defend Texas Liberty PAC and former State Representative, Jonathan Stickland, and white supremacist Nick Fuentes. The meeting took place in early October in Ft. Worth at a business owned by Stickland.

Fuentes, who frequently praises Adolf Hitler and is a Holocaust denier, leads the extremist America First Movement. Stickland is associated with the Defend Texas Liberty (DTL) PAC that receives money from far-right oil tycoons,Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks. Read, for example, this piece posted to this blog by Diane Ravitch titled, "Texas: Two Billionaires Want to Destroy Public Education and Replace It With Christian Schools."

Folks should also know that the DTL PAC gives millions to both Attorney General Ken Paxton and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. You can read about this in a Texas Tribune piece titled, "Pro-Paxton group gives $3 million to impeachment trial judge Dan Patrick. Because DTL is now associated with Nick Fuentes and America First, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan asked the Lt. Governor to hand back the money. You can read about this in the Oct. 9th Texas Tribune piece titled, Conservative PAC leader’s meeting with white supremacist Nick Fuentes leads to condemnations, escalates GOP infighting. Matt Rinaldi himself took $132,500 from this very same PAC for the Texas GOP. Unless you're an extremist or a member of the KKK, all of this is a terrible optic for the Texas Republican Party. 

All in all, the DTL has contributed around $15 million dollars to right-wing, extremist candidates for office. To my knowledge, none of this money has been handed back to the DTL. In response, rather than giving back the money, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick called for Phelan's resignation.

To drill down a bit further, it's pretty obvious to me that if recipients of DTL monies want to clean up their image and not get caught up with Nick Fuentes and his America First PAC, they should hand back the money. Phelan isn't exploiting an opportunity. He's representing the views of a majority of Texans who find both the DTL and Nick Fuentes revolting.

This shift toward the far right highlights a departure from the Republican party's previous focus on fundraising and supporting local Republicans. Under Chairman Matt Rinaldi, who assumed leadership in 2021, the party has challenged elected Republicans deemed insufficiently conservative. Rinaldi's outspokenness increased after the Texas House voted to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton in May, triggering months of internal conflict. You can learn more about Rinaldi, a former Texas State Representative, here.

Hard-right Republicans contend that Rinaldi is aligning the party with grassroots conservatism and promoting conservative policies. On the other side, led by House Speaker Dade Phelan, critics argue that Rinaldi is neglecting party responsibilities and fostering division, particularly before a contentious primary season where Rinaldi-backed candidates will challenge incumbent House Republicans.

My educated guess is that while this internal conflict impacted vouchers that have failed to pass session after session, harsh, unconstitutional immigration bills did pass in the fourth-called special legislative session with votes falling strictly on party lines. What should not get lost in the mix here is that as per another Texas Tribune piece that is also mentioned below, Chris Russo, founder of an organization named, Texans for Strong Borders, escorted Nick Fuentes to the Stickland-Rinaldi meeting in Ft. Worth. Hence, when involving immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, hate unites even a fractured Republican party.

These are interesting times. I shudder to think of where we would be right now without a press that is doing its job of investigating these truly consequential developments in the Texas GOP.

-Angela Valenzuela

Texas GOP fractures as some criticize leaders for slow response to denounce antisemitism

By Cayla Harris,Houston Chronicle, Austin Bureau Updated Oct 22, 2023 3:30 p.m.

Matt Rinaldi, left, chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, asks questions of the parlimentarian and rules officials during the third and final day of this year’s Republican Party of Texas Convention Saturday, June 18, 2022, held at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX.Michael Wyke / Contributor

Texas' book ban law isn't just bad. It's bad business. (Opinion), by Ed Nawotka, Houston Chronicle, Aug. 4, 2023

Here's a recent piece on Texas'  medieval “book ban law," or House Bill 900, that passed in the regular 88th (2023)Texas Legislative Session. The short of it is that banning books violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and is just plain bad for business—or as Molly Ivins used to say—"bid-ness," in Texas. This specific piece addresses the converting of some Houston Schools' libraries into detention centers referenced in the piece I just posted to this blog.

What distinguishes us as a democracy is freedom of speech, thought, and equal protection under the law. I wish those filing suit a successful day in court, beginning with a preliminary injunction hearing in Federal Court on August 18th here in Austin, Texas. If we can't win these battles in the legislature, we must turn to the courts.

-Angela Valenzuela

Texas' book ban law isn't just bad. It's bad business. (Opinion)

Ed Nawotka | Houston Chronicle

Aug. 4, 2023Updated: Aug. 4, 2023 2:36 p.m.

Valerie Koehler, owner of Blue Willow Bookshop, is part of a lawsuit aimed at stopping a law that would require bookstores to label books with sexual content.

Brett Coomer/Staff photographer

It is only fitting that the battle over House Bill 900, Texas’ new “book ban law," would start at the Alamo — or, to be more specific, across the street at the historic Menger Hotel. In April, more than 75 booksellers had gathered there to preview and celebrate the year’s forthcoming books. The star writer in the room that day was Houston’s Bryan Washington. Among those on hand to take it all in were more than a dozen new booksellers who have opened stores in the state in recent years, including David and Dara Landry, owners of CLASS bookstore.

The booksellers were concerned. The Texas Legislature was about to vote on and pass the new law that demands, in part, that “library material vendors,” including booksellers and publishers, create and implement a rating system for books sold to Texas schools and school libraries based on the book's “sexual” content. The intent, said lawmakers, was to protect children and keep pornography out of schools. (A cause that would be better served by taking away their phones and shutting off the school Wi-Fi.) The consequence of not doing so or getting the rating wrong, according to the state, is to be blacklisted from selling books to any Texas schools.

What’s ironic is that for all of Texas’ flag-waving talk about personal freedom, independence and freedom of speech, this law is akin to those in China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, Turkey or Russia — all countries where the government controls what books can be published and put on sale.

That’s some nefarious company.

Something had to be done about this intimidation, the booksellers agreed. And the fight was on.Last week, Houston bookseller Valerie Koehler, owner of Blue Willow Bookshop joined Charley Rejsek, CEO of BookPeople bookstore in Austin, in filing a lawsuit in federal court to try and get the law struck down. The pair were joined in their case by the American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers, the Authors Guild and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund — a group that represents pretty much anyone and everyone who writes or sells you a book.

Their argument is that not only does the law violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments, but that it is vague, sweeping and, frankly, untenable. As Koehler put it to me for an article about the lawsuit in Publishers Weekly, “The hours, the payroll that it would require for us to check and rate every book we sell, and then do it retroactively for the all the books we’ve ever sold, as the law implies we must do, is just absurd. Our job is to sell, not rate, books.”

If you’re not familiar, Koehler’s store, Blue Willow, is nationally known and considered one of the best in the country. It runs hundreds of events a year, including numerous author visits to schools and three book festivals for children and teens, including Bookworm Festival, Tweens Read, and Teen BookCon. She estimates sales to schools account for 20 percent of her annual revenue. For bookstores that operate on extremely thin margins — 3 percent profit is considered good — this lost revenue could be catastrophic.

To call this law foolhardy is to be kind to it. It’s simply ignorant. Rejsek told me that in the debate on the floor of the Legislature the lawmakers presumed this would only impact a handful of vendors, 50 or so at most. Instead, it impacts hundreds. No company, not even Amazon, could comply with this law. It’s an exercise in existential bullying, simply put. Or maybe the lawmakers are hoping AI can step in and take over the job. 

The chilling effect of the law is already being felt. The Katy ISD school board has said that it will not put any new books in circulation until the books are reviewed for content. Expect this to be the case more and more often in other Texas counties. And sometimes, the educators themselves take the lead on curtailing access to books, such as new HISD superintendent Mike Miles who is converting the libraries of some challenged schools into centers where disciplined kids will be sent. That’s the way to promote a lifelong love of reading and literature: Equate being among books as punishment.One cannot help but think that the passage of HB 900 reeks of grandstanding and currying favor. Why go after booksellers and librarians, and not, for example, the large media and telecom companies that pump the internet and its trillions of sexually explicit (and worse, much, much worse) images and content directly onto our phones, iPads and computers? Could it be that this would, by extension, implicate every parent who ever bought their child a mobile phone? Or more likely lawmakers probably thought the bookish people were soft targets; after all, the tech companies have deep pockets and, let’s be frank, are pumping billions of dollars through the Texas economy. The booksellers? They don’t account for nearly as much.

What’s more, I suspect there’s a certain amount of self-congratulation among the politicians that they outsmarted the smarty-pants people. Readers are to be viewed as suspicious; after all, they might learn to think for themselves. This isn’t new: look up the late Houston comedian’s Bill Hick’s routine from the 1990s, “What are you reading for?” on YouTube.

Koehler and her colleagues in bookselling and publishing are fighting uphill. They also know that the only argument that politicians will listen to is one that concerns money. “To be honest, I never thought this law would pass. No one in their right mind did,” Koehler told me. “Clearly no one thought this through. In one of the most business-friendly states in America, this is one of the most business-unfriendly laws ever passed.”

A preliminary injunction hearing is being held in Austin on Aug. 18. What can you do to help in the fight? In the past, I might have told you to “write to your legislator.” But it appears our legislators don’t like to read and at this point, that option is passed.

Ideally, I’d urge you to go to Austin and show your support for our freedom to read in person. I know I’ll be there. But if that is not an option for you, how about this: Go to a bookstore. Talk to a bookseller. Ask for a recommendation. Buy the book. Read it. And repeat. You get extra points if you share it with your children, their teachers, friends and family.

It’s easy. That’s it. Buy books. Read. Repeat. Vote with your dollars. Then, when the time comes, vote the knuckleheads responsible for this out of office.

Ed Nawotka is a Houston-based writer and the international editor at Publishers Weekly.

Texas Senate passes bill to kill DEI programs: You can hear all of yesterday's hearing on SB 17 here

These are our students standing up for higher education! So proud of them. You can hear all of yesterday's hearing on SB 17 here: https://tinyurl.com/mrttabk7

-Angela Valenzuela

Texas Senate passes bill to kill diversity, equity and inclusion programs

“DEI has become a political agenda," said the bill's author, while critics warned that eliminating the programs would jeopardize the progress Texas universities have made in hiring diverse talent.

Jeremy Wallace | April 20, 2023 | Houston Chronicle

Left to right, Jenna Doane, Cecelia jordan, Janeva Wilson, Maria del Carmen Unda, and Lauren Mena Shook discuss proposed legislation to ban diversity hiring programs in Texas colleges at the Texas State Capitol in Austin on April, 6, 2023. The are all members of the education policy planning program UT Austin.Bob Daemrich/Bob Daemrich/Contributor

After more than five hours of debate, the Texas Senate voted 19-12 late Wednesday to bar all public universities and colleges from having diversity, equity and inclusion programs or staff.

State Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, said while he is all for diversity, DEI programs have gone too far, and are actually excluding some job candidates and ultimately not succeeding in increasing the diversity of college faculty.

LATEST: Killing diversity hiring programs in Texas colleges could hurt push for more engineers

“DEI has become a political agenda, not a program that follows civil rights law,” Creighton said.

Democrats vehemently opposed the legislation, saying DEI was being mischaracterized by Republicans based on a few isolated incidences, and that it ignored how colleges have used the programs to make sure diverse candidates — once overlooked by universities — are getting a chance to be considered for jobs and future advancement.

The legislation now goes to the Texas House, which must pass the same bill if it is going to make it to Gov. Greg Abbott, who has the final say on whether it will become law.

Creighton argued scrapping DEI would allow more “diversity of thought” and that lawmakers could work on other ways to promote diversity.

But state Sen. Borris Miles, a Houston Democrat and one of just two Black members of the Senate, said that didn’t make sense.

“There is no logic in the belief that you can increase diversity by removing the policies and offices that work to promote diversity,” he said.

EXCLUSIVE: Gov. Greg Abbott explains his fight against diversity hiring programs on college campuses

All 12 Democrats in the Texas Senate voted against the bill.

Like Creighton, Abbott has argued DEI programs sound good on the surface but that they have been manipulated to pass on potential job applicants because of their race. He sent warnings to colleges and universities in February, which was followed by schools like the University of Texas, Texas A&M University and the University of Houston all announcing that they would step back from DEI programs or review how their programs work.

But that hasn’t been enough for the Republican-led Legislature, which has threatened to cut funding for colleges that use DEI programs and now has Creighton’s legislation advancing.

jeremy.wallace@houstonchronicle.com

Opinion: Mexican American and African American studies should count towards graduation in Texas by Rep. Christina Morales

Praise to Texas State Rep. Christina Morales (D-Houston) for leading on Ethnic Studies for the state of Texas. Her own personal story published by the Houston Chronicle that she shares below is compelling. We should all know our history and experience pride in forming part of the grand American story.

Ample qualitative and quantitative evidence exists that demonstrates strong positive, and consistent academic benefits of Ethnic Studies for all children and students to succeed in school, regardless of ethnicity. If our students succeed academically, increasing achievement and graduation rates as credible data have shown, our children's futures hold enormous promise.

Since Fall 2020 and Fall 2021, Mexican American Studies and African American Studies, respectively, were being taught in Texas schools as elective courses. In 2018 and 2019, respectively, Mexican American Studies and African American Studies additionally met unanimous approval by the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) as TEKS-aligned courses.

By this, we mean that the process of standard-setting has taken place and these are already full-fledged courses in state curricula. Two additional Ethnic Studies courses, namely, Native American and Asian American Studies, are in the process of getting TEKS-aligned.

Now it's time to make Ethnic Studies count toward high school graduation. Join us for a conversation this PM on Facebook Live to get additional details pertinent to the bill and how to support this truly historic effort.

-Angela Valenzuela

Opinion: Mexican American and African American studies should count towards graduation in Texas

Rep. Christina Morales Jan. 20, 2021, HOUSTON CHRONICLE

A detail of new mural titled "Mexican-American History & Culture in 20th Century Houston" by artists Jesse Sifuentes and Laura Lopez Cano in Sam Houston Park on Thursday, Sept. 6, 2018 in Houston. The mural features contributions and significant figures in Houston's Mexican-American history.

Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

I am blessed to know my history.

My grandfather attended a segregated school. My grandmother remembers a park in San Antonio with a sign that read “no dogs or Mexicans allowed.” We have come a long way since then, but there is still so much work to be done. Knowledge of my heritage helped me become a leader and play a role in making Texas a better place.

That is why I am introducing a bill in the Texas Legislature to award full credit to high school students for ethnic studies courses and count them towards their graduation requirements. Texas youth deserve to know their history.

When my grandparents moved to Houston in 1931, they moved to Second Ward, which we lovingly call “Segundo Barrio.” There they found the neighborhood with the highest concentration of Latinos, mostly Mexican and Mexican American. This is where they would later open “Morales Funeral Home,” the first Latino-owned funeral home in Houston, and then a cemetery. The funeral services they provided to families were filled with compassion and provided everyone during their time of mourning with recognition and respect for their Mexican heritage.

In 1950 they opened Radio Station KLVL — “La Voz Latina.” For many years, it was the only Spanish language radio station on the Gulf Coast. The radio station was not only a form of entertainment, but it provided news, weather, job listings and talk shows where community members could call in and share accomplishments, celebrations and tragedies. Just imagine being in a foreign country and unable to speak the language. How would you know if a hurricane was coming? How would you find a job? Our history was not taught in schools, seen on TV or celebrated, so how could you remember your heritage, tradition and shared history?

In the years since, commerce blossomed, families thrived, and Segundo Barrio and Houston grew as the Latino population significantly increased.

Now there are many Latino funeral homes and Spanish radio stations across the Houston area. Latinos have grown exponentially in our city and in our state. Our history and contributions, however, are not regularly recognized or celebrated outside of our neighborhoods or the households where families share their customs.

I feel fortunate to be a part of the history of Segundo Barrio. I see our family’s name on our building every day.

I see our family’s name honored in El Paseo Del Segundo Barrio in Guadalupe Plaza Park.

I can hear my family’s last name ring out in the Texas Capitol when I am called as a Texas state representative. I will carry out my family legacy of giving back by championing this ethnic studies bill so that students from our neighborhoods, our cities and our towns can see their family’s contributions in their textbooks, in their curriculum and in their classrooms. This is the Texas-sized version of history that helped create this great state, and we are poised to share it in high schools from Houston to El Paso.

Texans have already united to bring this history forward, and it is time to celebrate its richness to the fullest.

Republican and Democratic Texas State Board of Education representatives voted unanimously to approve Mexican American Studies in 2018 and African American Studies in 2019 as electives.

Now, we must take the next step.

These powerful courses are only offered as electives, relegating our history to second-class, extra or something to overlook.

That is why, according to the Texas Education Agency, just over 1,400 Texas students were able to take Mexican American studies, and less than 100 were able to take African American studies in the 2019-2020 school year.

I am submitting a bill to change that.

My bill would allow African American Studies and Mexican American Studies courses to count toward high school graduation requirements. These courses currently lack this critical designation. This change would encourage school districts to invest in the teachers, staff and resources to teach these courses long-term. Most importantly, this change will make our history count.

It would also inspire scholars and activists to develop the curriculum for the approval of further ethnic studies courses, including Asian American and Indigenous American studies. Activist, scholars and elected officials have included both of these disciplines since advocates began championing this new era of ethnic studies.

Study after study confirms that culturally relevant courses bridge the educational divide. The Cabrera Study provided this information at the Arizona Supreme Court and was pivotal evidence in overturning the state’s ban of Mexican American Studies. Now, we must unite so that every district benefits from the richness of these courses. This is especially important in the post-George Floyd era where so much attention is focused on dismantling structural discrimination that permeates our lives.

Culturally relevant courses go far beyond the classroom in cultivating a generation of leaders who will diffuse cultural conflicts early on. These same thinkers can also build a Texas where all our contributions are recognized, respected, and celebrated.

Please join me in delivering a Texas-sized history for all our youth and their families.

Morales represents District 145 in the Texas House of Representatives.

From the editors of the Houston Chronicle. -Angela

Editorial: Leave politics out of reopening Texas schools. Listen to the science.

The Editorial Board July 29, 2020 Updated: July 30, 2020 7:56 a.m.

Kathryn McGhee places one of her books on a stack as she returns textbooks at The Woodlands High School, Friday, May 15, 2020, in The Woodlands.

Photo: Jason Fochtman, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Update July 29, 7:18 p.m. This editorial has been updated to include a response by Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, who issued a statement late Wednesday.

The decisions to re-open Texas schools for in-person education should be made on the basis of sound public health considerations, not because of politics. And since health conditions vary widely across Texas, the biggest say in when students and teachers can safely meet again in the classrooms should belong to local, not state, officials.

Unfortunately, two decisions by state leaders in the past week risk getting all of that terribly wrong.

First, Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a nonbinding opinion that says local health authorities can’t order schools to delay in-person instruction. Shortly after, Texas Education Agency issued a stern warning: Campuses that rely on a local health official’s blanket order to delay in-person instruction beyond the eight-week grace period already provided by TEA will lose state funding.

That’s so unnecessary, and it’s potentially dangerous.

Starting a new school year amid an alarming surge of coronavirus cases is daunting enough. Now imagine worrying that campuses may be forced to reopen before it is safe.

At least a dozen local health authorities across Texas, including Harris County and Houston, have ordered public and non-religious private schools to delay in-person instruction because of COVID-19. Those orders are sound, based on medical evidence and close readings of local conditions.

Paxton is wrong to undermine them. And TEA is even worse by threatening schools with loss of funding.

Gov. Greg Abbott has repeatedly said in television interviews that local leaders would have the authority to decide when to reopen buildings, but didn’t clarify whether that includes health officials. His office did not respond to a request for comment.

School officials and families desperately trying to determine the best solutions for their districts and children need consistency, and maximum support. With the state trumpeting local control one day and grabbing hold of the reins the next, it just makes murky waters even murkier.

Enough with the game-playing. Too much is at stake.

“This political posturing is putting communities at risk,” state Rep. Gina Hinojosa told the editorial board.

She’s right. No one wants schools closed indefinitely. Children learn better through face-to-face instruction. Virtual learning likely exacerbates the opportunity gap between affluent and disadvantaged children, given how uneven access to the internet and other technology is among students.

But the coronavirus threatens the lives of students, their teachers and staff — and everyone they come into contact with. Texas has had almost 400,000 confirmed cases and nearly 6,000 deaths attributed to COVID-19. In the Houston region, there have been nearly 97,000 cases and 1,490 deaths.

Children are not immune. Since March, there have been about 2,000 cases of COVID-19 reported at licensed childcare operations in the state. Of those patients, 1,343 were adult staff members and 654 were children.

In Nueces County, officials say 85 infants under the age of 1 have tested positive for the coronavirus since March.

Morath, while stressing that changing conditions could warrant further tweaks to the TEA policy and that start dates remain at local district’s discretion, doubled down on the agency’s warning in a statement late Wednesday. Paxton, did not return requests for comment. They may be willing to overlook the risk to our children, but we should not.

“What we know for sure is that our schools and community are no safer today than they were at the beginning of this pandemic,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in a statement. “Our actions to save lives from this crisis should be guided by public health, science, and compassion for the health and safety of our residents — not politics.”

The recent spikes in COVID-19 cases in Houston make it clear that conditions can change from one minute to the next. It’s possible that by early fall, conditions will have improved so much that schools could safely return to in-person instruction. But it’s also possible that they will have not improved, or perhaps gotten even worse.

If that’s the case, the last thing the state of Texas needs to be doing is making it harder for the health and school officials to make the right calls to protect everyone’s lives. Such blanket proclamations as the ones issued this week are misguided and extremely unhelpful.

Science should drive these decisions. Leave the politics out.

Why can’t UT-Austin hire, keep Latino faculty? [Houston Chronicle Editorial]

The report of the Independent Equity Committee at the University of Texas at Austin, comprised of Latino full professors, is still getting much-needed attention.  Here is the latest by the editors of the Houston Chronicle.  Click here to download the entire report which is in the public domain.

-Angela Valenzuela

Why can’t UT-Austin hire, keep Latino faculty? [Editorial]

The Editorial Board Houston ChronicleJan. 22, 2020

In a message posted on the University of Texas at Austin website, President Gregory Fenves touts the institution’s commitment to diversity.

“Our history of exclusion and segregation gives us a responsibility to stand as champions of the educational benefits of diversity,” the statement says.

It is a worthy goal — one backed by research showing that all students benefit from a diverse learning environment. Unfortunately, UT’s pledge doesn’t always translate into reality.

A recent 188-page “Hispanic Equity Report” found “gross disparities” and “discrimination” for Latino faculty at the state’s flagship university.

History professor Alberto Martinez, chair of the committee that produced the report, described the inequities to the editorial board in three words: Flabbergasting. Demoralizing. Heartbreaking. We’ll add another: Unacceptable.

Consider these findings:

Latino professors are paid less than their white peers, ranging from a difference of $10,000 for associate professors to $25,000 for full professors. The pay gap is even wider for Latinas.

Latinos are virtually shut out of leadership positions. Among the 130 dean positions, only 7.7 percent are Latino and none are held by a Hispanic female. In Texas, Latinas are 20 percent of the population. Some departments, such as the 130-year-old history department, have never been chaired by a person of color.

The Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, named after an Hispanic alumna who endowed it with $15 million, has had no Latino directors since it was founded in 1940.

Only 62.5 percent of Latino applicants received tenure from 2010-18, compared with 85 percent of white applicants.

The report recounts the experience of a Latino professor who was denied tenure despite having a resume that includes three single-author books, two edited volumes, more than 30 scholarly articles and book chapters in print, and others in the works. “Very few candidates in the humanities have such extensive scholarly publications when they receive tenure,” the report noted.

Denials despite professional achievement are common, Martinez says. Qualifications aren’t the issue. The problem, he says, stems from a lack of Latino representation on committees that determine hiring, promotion and salaries.

UT-Austin has fought successfully at the U.S. Supreme Court to include race as part of its holistic student admission criteria, arguing that a diverse student body “brings with it educational benefits for all students.”

That idea must extend to the university’s faculty, as Fenves himself noted after the 2016 court ruling.

It’s especially critical on a campus where 23 percent of undergraduate students are Latino, and in a state where nearly 45 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds are Latino. At UT, only 7 percent of tenure and tenure-track professors are Latino. Compare that with Texas A&M, where 22 percent of students and 16 percent of the faculty are Latino.

The disparity means that many Latino students never have a Latino professor during their time at UT, missing out on mentoring opportunities — or simply the connection to a faculty member who shares the same cultural background. Studies show that Latino and black students perform better with teachers of color who serve as role models.

The obstacles to advancement and inequities in pay lead to a high turnover rate and to frustration among those who stay, Martinez said. From 2013-2018, the report found, 60 percent of Latino assistant professors on tenure track left the school.

In a statement, UT officials said the university is working to address issues of faculty equity. Provost Maurie McInnis has “committed the university to understanding the source of the disparities. The provost has also asked the deans to review and report their processes and outcomes in leadership selection, to improve transparency into these processes, and [make sure] equity is considered in the selection of leadership.”

That is encouraging. School officials should also follow recommendations outlined in the report, including hiring more Latino professors, especially those who are Tejano and who are originally from disadvantaged groups, raising the salaries of Latino faculty already on staff to achieve equity with white faculty, and creating a rotation that allows all faculty to serve in leadership positions in university and departmental governance.

The university’s promise to embrace “diversity in many forms” should include fair pay and opportunity for the Latino professors and other faculty responsible for educating our leaders of tomorrow.

Press 1 for English? These days, biliteracy deserves not just tolerance, but academic rewards [Editorial]

Happy to see the editorial board of the Houston Chronicle cite my Houston ethnography, Subtractive Schooling, to connect the dots between the treatment of immigrants, discrimination against Mexican Americans, Texas' current “State Seal of Biliteracy,” and (what should be) making America great, namely, through biliteracy—or literacy in two languages.  Spanish-English literacy, through bilingual and dual language programs is what is indeed happening throughout Texas, including places like Houston, El Paso, San Antonio, and Austin, at varying degrees.  This should arguably be happening everywhere throughout our state and nation.

To my awareness, it has been years since the Houston Chronicle has cited my work.  And only once amongst a handful of times.  Regardless, this means that our work as researchers, scholars, and critical ethnographers makes a difference in the world.  And for that I am very pleased.

Angela Valenzuela

Press 1 for English? These days, biliteracy deserves not just tolerance, but academic rewards [Editorial]

By The Editorial Board | HOUSTON CHRONICLE

July 21, 2018

BILLY CALZADA, STAFF / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

“English! English! Go back to Mexico. You’re in America!”

“English! English! Go back to Mexico. You’re in America!” 

Not so long ago, that response, described in an ethnography by University of Texas professor Angela Valenzuela, is what Texas schoolchildren could expect for speaking Spanish in the hallways. Punishments and reprimands were common experience for students whose open use of bilingual skills could be perceived as flauting American customs or refusing to assimilate.

Fast forward 20 years. Bilingual skills are not only tolerated; they’re rewarded.

Yes, some of President Trump’s policies seem to be making America less welcoming to refugees, other foreigners and even sometimes non-native English speakers with noticeable accents.

At the same time, policymakers in Texas and elsewhere are acting on research that has suggested the benefits of speaking more than one language range from better ease with multitasking to potentially delaying the onset of dementia. In college and the workforce, the advantages are clear: Multilingual students have improved access to post-secondary education and help-wanted signs across Texas beckon bilingual applicants.

Today, Texas is one of more than 30 states that now offers a “State Seal of Biliteracy.” The commendation recognizes high school graduates who have attained a high level of proficiency in one or more languages other than English.

Texas students and their families should consider setting this seal as an academic goal. School counselors should encourage students to seek it. Districts should proudly display the number of qualifying students prominently on their websites.

In today’s competitive workforce, students need every advantage they can get. For too long, the built-in advantage of speaking a different language in the home was squandered. Now, students can cultivate their language knowledge and turn it into fluency in reading, writing and speaking. The seal can open doors by signaling to colleges and potential employers that the applicant’s language skills aren’t just conversational; they’re comprehensive.

An estimated 1 in 5 Americans speak a language other than English in their home. Even under current anti-immigration policies, that number is not likely to go down significantly. Businesses and schools need a way to communicate with non-English speakers.

Employers posted more than three times more jobs for Chinese speakers in 2015 than they had just five years earlier, according to a report by the New American Economy, a bipartisan coalition of mayors and business leaders that supports immigration reform. During the same time period, the number of U.S. job ads listing Spanish and Arabic as a desired skill increased by roughly 150 percent, according to the report.

Of the 627,000 bilingual positions posted throughout the country in 2015, roughly 70,000 were in Texas. While many employers favor bilingual applicants, there are certain businesses where it is crucial, including education, finance and health care.

Here in our city — a potpourri of cultures and languages — the Houston Independent School District offers opportunities for bilingualism through its 56 dual-language schools. In Texas’ 9th-grade classrooms, populated by an estimated 47,458 English language-learners, the seals not only represent a goal for students, but a celebration of their unique skills.

The seal represents great strides from a day when students were stigmatized for multilingualism. While more can be done to capitalize on the language skills of our state’s native and foreign-born populations, the recognition of today’s policymakers that multilingualism is an asset, not a hindrance, for students and workers is key to Texas’ ability to thrive in the global economy