UT President Homer Rainey and the Long Memory of Academic Freedom at UT, by Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.

UT President Homer Rainey and the Long Memory of Academic Freedom at UT

by

Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.

May 19, 2026

There are moments in a university’s history when the question becomes larger than any single president, professor, book, department, or policy. The question becomes whether a university will remain a university at all.

The firing of Homer Price Rainey, the twelfth president of The University of Texas at Austin, was one such moment.

Rainey served as UT president from 1939 to 1944. By many measures, his presidency strengthened the institution. He helped open the Latin American Institute, expanded the graduate school, increased the faculty, supported the College of Fine Arts, organized the management of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health, and grew the university’s library holdings. In other words, he was building UT into a serious public research university with intellectual breadth, scholarly ambition, and public purpose (University of Texas at Austin Office of the President, n.d.).

But Rainey also believed that a university could not fulfill its mission if political appointees dictated what faculty could teach, which ideas students could encounter, or which scholars should be punished for their views. That conviction brought him into direct conflict with the UT Board of Regents.

Beginning in the early 1940s, regents pressed Rainey to remove faculty whose views they disliked, including economics professors associated with New Deal ideas and faculty who defended federal labor laws. The conflict deepened when regents objected to the teaching of John Dos Passos’ U.S.A. trilogy, a work they viewed as politically suspect. Rainey publicly protested this interference. On November 1, 1944, the regents fired him (Green, 1995; The Daily Texan, n.d.).

The response was extraordinary. Some 8,000 students went on strike and marched from the UT campus to the Capitol and Governor’s Mansion. According to historical accounts, mourners carried a casket labeled “academic freedom,” while the Longhorn Band played Chopin’s “Funeral March.” (The Daily Texan, n.d.; Wilder, 2012).

The message was unmistakable: when political power suppresses teaching and scholarship, something vital in public education dies.

Source: UT History: The President Rainey Controversy

That warning matters today.

Rainey was not reinstated. But history vindicated him. He became a national symbol of academic freedom, and the episode remains one of the clearest warnings in UT’s history about what happens when governing boards confuse stewardship with ideological control (Green, 1995; Wilder, 2012).

That warning matters today.

Universities are not fragile because faculty disagree, students protest, or controversial books are taught. They are fragile when fear replaces inquiry; when political pressure determines curriculum; when administrators anticipate punishment; when faculty governance is weakened; when entire fields of study are treated as suspect because they examine race, gender, labor, colonialism, inequality, or power.

The Rainey story reminds us that academic freedom is not an abstraction. It is the condition that allows a public university to serve the public honestly. Without it, universities become instruments of power rather than spaces of knowledge.

In 1944, students understood this clearly enough to march behind a coffin marked “academic freedom.” Eighty years later, the question is whether we understand it clearly enough to prevent history from happening again.

***

If you are able, consider marching with our funeral procession from the UT Tower to the UT System Board of Regents tomorrow. We'll be at the UT Tower at 11:00 AM and are expected to reach the BOR office at 12:30 PM located at 210 West 7th Street, Austin, Texas 78701.

Reference

Green, G. N. (1995). Homer Price Rainey: Life and legacy of a university president. Texas State Historical Association Online. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/rainey-homer-price

The Daily Texan. (n.d.). UT History: The President Rainey controversy [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUTGmWD8clo

University of Texas at Austin Office of the President. (n.d.). Homer Price Rainey. https://president.utexas.edu/past-presidents/homer-price-rainey/

Wilder, F. (2012, June 13). The war on public universities, Texas Observer. https://www.texasobserver.org/the-war-on-public-universities/

The Missing Voice in the Border Wall Debate: If the Rio Grande Could Speak, by Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D. April 29, 2026

The Missing Voice in the Border Wall Debate: If the Rio Grande Could Speak

by 

Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.  

April 29, 2026

At first glance, this article published in The Big Bend Sentinel appears to offer a compelling account of grassroots mobilization, documenting how Texans gathered in Austin to protest the proposed border wall and defend places like Big Bend National Park. Yet, upon closer examination, the piece reveals a far more troubling limitation. It foregrounds human sentiment—memory, attachment, identity—while failing to meaningfully engage the land, the river, and the more-than-human world as subjects of concern in their own right. In doing so, it ultimately diminishes the gravity of what is at stake.

The article’s most significant shortcoming is its deeply anthropocentric framing. By this, I mean that the Big Bend region and the Rio Grande are rendered primarily as sites of human experience—places to visit, enjoy, and remember. Protesters’ concerns that the wall would “ruin the aesthetic” or restrict access are not insignificant; however, they remain confined within a human-centered epistemology, or way of knowing, that obscures a more fundamental question: 

What obligations do we have to the land itself? What claims might the river assert, were it recognized as more than a resource? What of the animals whose lives and migratory pathways would be irreparably disrupted?

Here, the writings of Anishinaabe scholar John Borrows (2010, 2019) offers a critical intervention. He argues that law is not merely a system of codified rules but is constituted through relationships—among humans, and crucially, between humans and the natural world. Within many Indigenous legal traditions, land, water, and non-human beings are not objects external to law; they are integral to its formation and meaning. Law, in this sense, is relational and place-based, emerging from longstanding practices of reciprocity and responsibility.

The article gestures briefly toward the more-than-human world in its description of protestors holding images of bears, mountain lions, deer, and other wildlife. Yet this moment is not developed. It is treated as symbolic rather than substantive. There is no sustained engagement with the ecological consequences of the proposed wall—its role in fragmenting habitats, interrupting migratory routes, and destabilizing a desert ecosystem that has evolved over millennia. 

From Borrows’ perspective, such omissions are not merely journalistic gaps; they reflect a deeper failure to recognize that environmental degradation constitutes a rupture in the very relationships that law ought to sustain (Borrows, 2019).

Moreover, the article’s emphasis on land ownership and government overreach reproduces a familiar, and ultimately limiting, legal grammar. By centering questions of private and state control, it reinscribes a property-based framework that has long underwritten environmental exploitation. Land is treated as something to be owned, accessed, or regulated, rather than as a living system to which humans are accountable. 

Borrows (2010) challenges precisely this orientation, demonstrating that many Indigenous legal orders prioritize responsibilities to land over rights of domination—a shift that carries profound implications for how we understand governance, justice, and sustainability.

This brings us to a broader jurisprudential impasse. Contemporary legal systems in the United States remain structurally oriented toward the protection of human interests and property relations. Within such a framework, entities like the Rio Grande lack standing; they cannot assert claims, seek redress, or demand protection. Emerging movements around the “rights of nature” seek to address this limitation by recognizing ecosystems as legal persons.

Importantly, Borrows’ work reminds us that such developments are not without precedent. They resonate with longstanding Indigenous legal traditions in which the natural world is understood as part of a broader legal community (Borrows, 2019). To recognize this is not to romanticize Indigenous knowledge, but to acknowledge its ongoing relevance in confronting contemporary ecological crises.

What the article ultimately reveals, then, is not simply a contested infrastructure project, but the inadequacy of prevailing legal and journalistic frameworks to apprehend it. Even in moments of resistance, discourse remains tethered to anthropocentric assumptions that obscure the full scope of environmental harm. Protest is articulated in terms of human loss—access, aesthetics, identity—rather than as a defense of the integrity of ecological systems themselves.

This should alarm us. The waiving of environmental protections, the opacity surrounding federal actions, and the potential for irreversible ecological damage demand not only critical reflection but public accountability. Silence from state leadership is untenable. Greg Abbott should not remain absent from a matter of such consequence to Texas lands, waters, and communities. At a minimum, Texans deserve transparency, deliberation, and a clear articulation of the state’s position.

Accordingly, this is a moment that calls for engagement. Residents should contact their elected representatives and insist upon the protection of the Big Bend region and the ecosystems it sustains. Information on legislative representation in Texas is available at https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home. Such actions, while modest, are essential in signaling that these issues carry public weight and demand a response.

If we are to move forward, however, more fundamental shifts are required. Protecting places like Big Bend necessitates rethinking the conceptual foundations of law, governance, and ethics. It requires moving beyond a framework in which land is valued primarily for human use, toward one in which land, water, and non-human life are recognized as participants in a shared legal and moral order.

Until such a shift occurs, accounts like this one will continue to gesture toward crisis without fully apprehending its depth. And the land, the river, and the countless beings who depend on them will remain, quite literally, outside the law.

References

Borrows, J. (2010). Canada’s Indigenous constitution. University of Toronto Press.

Borrows, J. (2019). Law’s indigenous ethics. University of Toronto Press.

Bubacz, K. (2026, April 5). Thousands of Texans protest border wall at state capitol. The Big Bend Sentinel. https://bigbendsentinel.com/2026/04/05/thousands-of-texans-protest-border-wall-at-state-capitol/

Thousands of Texans protest border wall at state Capitol

by Kate Bubacz April 5, 2026 | The Big Bend Sentinal

Texans from across the state join Big Bend residents for a rally against the border wall at the Capitol in Austin Saturday. Kate Bubacz photo.

Santa Elena Canyon was an alternate rally for river enthusiasts

Over 2,000 Texans stood on the steps of the state Capitol in Austin to sing, dance and protest the border wall that is planned in the Big Bend region. Undeterred by the rain and the Easter holiday weekend, attendees asserted their pride in the beloved, wild western corner of the state and their disbelief that both private and public land could be needlessly harmed by outside forces.

“I think being out here and being so angry helps define who is a true Texan,” said John Riddle, an Austin resident who visited the Big Bend National Park with friends last spring. The cause has united people from across the state and from both sides of the aisle. Everyone in the crowd seemed to have a story or a special memory about visiting the parks, and many seemed to feel personally offended that the Texas government would allow a federal administration to interfere with their private and state land.

“Nobody says we don’t need border security. A wall would keep us out of our treasured landscapes,” said retired park ranger Raymond Skiles, who led an enthusiastic chant of, “Don’t wall us out.”

The citizens who gathered were entirely volunteer led. Drew Heugel, a tech employee who lives in Austin, was one of the original event organizers. He was visiting the Big Bend region in February when news of the border wall broke. When he posted an idea of protest on his Facebook, he expected a few hundred likes. Instead, the idea took hold, attracting the support of thousands.

“I’m impressed with how people have rallied,” he said, under a tent that was bustling with volunteers handing out information to people walking up to the Capitol. Heugel worked in coordination with several local volunteer groups that have organized in the last two months, including Save Big Bend and the No Big Bend Wall groups.

Judah Hill, 14, came with his family from Houston specifically to attend the protest on Easter weekend. His family has a tradition of going to Big Bend to climb mountaintops. He held a sign that said, “The wall doesn’t match the aesthetic,” a playful Gen Z nod to how it would ruin the landscape.

The peaceful protest had a joyful but determined air as people gathered in the chilly afternoon to listen to two hours of speakers and singers, including Willie Nelson’s daughter Amy and Jimmy Dale Gilmour, along with an array of politicians from both parties.

Some 500 miles away at Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park, about 150 people showed up by cars and boats to what they termed a “picnic” that featured protest signs and paintings along with speakers on bullhorns and chants against the wall.

Paddlers at Big Bend National Park’s Santa Elena canyon make their thoughts on a border wall 

known at a Saturday rally on the river. Jennifer Pittinger photo.

Protestors waded in the river, and dozens of boats lined the shore. “Really, we’re giving Mexico the Rio Grande and our border land,” read one sign. Another group of people stood in the river holding giant, painted cardboard cutouts of animals—beavers, bears, mountain lions, javelina and deer.

Back in Austin, Brandon Herrera and Katie Padilla Stout, staunch opponents vying for the region’s district congressional seat, both spoke at the Capitol against the wall. “We are here today to remind people you don’t mess with Texas,” said Stout, to cheers. “Nobody wants the wall in Big Bend,” said Herrera, minutes later.

In the six weeks since the wall was announced in Big Bend Sentinel, stiff opposition to it has organized and gained traction. A Customs and Border Patrol map originally showed a 517-mile steel wall planned, including the state and national park. The same map now shows smart technology planned through the parks and a steel structure through the remaining 175 miles upstream between Fort Quitman and Presidio. The map has become a key source of information, changing several times without warning or explanation, but Customs and Border Protection has never commented on the changes.

Protestors show off their signs against a Big Bend border wall at a protest at the Capitol in Austin Saturday. Kate Bubacz photo.

No details about what detection technology entails have been provided, sparking unease about disruption to a delicate ecosystem. Surveyors and contractors have started to show up in the region, keeping landowners and locals on edge that they stand to lose access to both their land, and the Rio Grande, the key water source for hundreds of miles. Twenty-eight environmental and archaeological protections for the region have been waived as over $6 billion in contracts have been awarded. Gov. Greg Abbott has maintained his near silence on the issue, which was noted by the signs in the crowd.

“Why isn’t Abbott speaking up for Texas lands? Come out and say something” said Mary Ann Robinson, who drove from Alpine, Texas, to attend the Capitol event.

Abbott’s office did release a statement to KXAN TV in Austin saying the governor talked to the “Border Patrol chief, who told him no physical walls would be erected in the national or state park.”

“Don’t Tread on Me” and “Come and Take It” flags were flown and worn with pride in Austin as calls about government overreach were met with cheers. Frustration has been mounting for what protesters see as a lack of clear answers on an issue that defies sense for the rugged landscape, impedes on private property and water rights and would cost a fortune to American taxpayers.

“We just want them to leave the whole damn thing alone,” said Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett. “As far as a wall through Big Bend, it seems like nature did that herself a few millennia ago.”

The fight against the wall is far from over. Local groups are seeking to address letters received by private landowners from the federal government seeking access to their land, the restoration of environmental protections and revocation of contracts that have been awarded.

Christina Hernandez, a Presidio resident and member of People of La Junta, told the Austin crowd: “People were living in relationship with this land before pyramids were built, and today we’re being told that this land can be cut through by people far away.”

Child Abuse Disguised as Policy: We Will Not Be Silent, by Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.—Sept. 4 SDS Rally at the UT-Austin Tower

Friends,

Happy Friday. From my new Vlog (video-blog).I delivered this talk yesterday at an Austin SDS rally in support of the rights and fair treatment of immigrant children, students, and families. It is beyond shameful and truly appalling—to learn of what is happening in our country to Guatemalan children. It's nightmarish. Prayers and activism needed.

I have blogged on this previously as follows:

Judge Blocks Trump's Late-Night Deportation of Hundreds of Guatemalan Children, Democracy Now!

Secret Attempted Deportation of Close to 700 Guatemalan Children Blocked by Federal Judge, by Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.

Thanks to Yulissa Chavez for the recording my talk.

Thanks to the students for standing up against this cruel administration to stand in the gap for the rights and humanity of immigrant children and youth. I appreciate your courage.

-Angela Valenzuela

 

Child Abuse Disguised as Policy: We Will Not Be Silent

By

Angela Valenzuela

September 4, 2025

Friends, compañeros, hermanas y hermanos,

Over the holiday weekend, something shocking happened. The Trump administration tried—in secret—to deport hundreds of Guatemalan children. Children! 

As many as 700, according to The Guardian. Some were already being loaded onto planes before a federal judge, Justice Sparkle Sooknanan, was woken up at 2:30 in the morning by attorneys at the National Immigration Law Center to stop this cruel operation.

Without her intervention, terrified children would have been expelled in the dead of night—denied their legal right to seek asylum, stripped of protections guaranteed under U.S. law, and sent back to danger.

They were denied due process. They were denied dignity.

Let’s call this what it is: child abuse disguised as policy.
This is the politics of disappearance—erasing children’s bodies, silencing their voices, banning the truths that they hold, and to which we as a polity should know.

A government willing to traumatize the innocent to score political points.

A system that chains children in handcuffs and leg irons, while claiming to defend freedom.

There is no justice in this.
There is no morality in this.
There is no excuse for this.

We’ve seen cruelty from this administration before. But this attempt stands out. Look closely and you’ll see the fingerprints of Trump’s advisor Stephen Miller—an architect of pain—who has made it his mission to torment immigrant families, and who peddles the poisonous lie that immigrant children are a threat rather than a blessing.

History teaches us something here. Just as Joseph Goebbels weaponized propaganda in Nazi Germany, Miller has weaponized fear and lies—conditioning the public to accept, even rationalize, the abuse of vulnerable children.

And here’s the thing: we still don’t even know the whole story. We don’t know the ages of these children. Were toddlers among them? Were their advocates, attorneys, or guardians notified? We don’t know. What we do know is this: children who already survived trauma and the long, perilous journey north were retraumatized—ripped from safety and thrust back into danger.

And let’s be clear: these children are not a burden. They are not criminals. They are not a threat.

They are sons and daughters. They’re DREAMers and doers. Future nurses, teachers, leaders.

The only real threat is the Trump administration’s agenda of fear, cruelty, and racism—a deliberate attempt to turn our nation’s back on its promise of justice.

That’s why we are here today. Because we cannot, and we will not, remain silent.

We are here to say: No child is illegal. No human being is illegal.
We are here to say: Not one more deportation in our name.

Such actions are unworthy of a nation that claims to stand for equality, justice, and due process.

And we are here to demand dignity, protection, and justice for immigrant children and their families.

Now raise your voices with me:

Say it loud, say it clear—
Immigrant children are welcome here!
Guatemalan children are welcome here!

'Chilling Attempt to Evade Accountability': Trump to Boycott UN Human Rights Review--Time for Action!

Friends, Students, Community Members, and Colleagues:

The Trump administration has once again turned its back on global human rights accountability—this time by refusing to participate in the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the process where every country is asked to account for its human rights record. The U.S. has taken part in every review since 2010, but this year it walked away—at the very moment when international scrutiny is most urgent.

The ACLU blasted the boycott as “a chilling attempt to evade accountability,” warning it emboldens authoritarian regimes and weakens protections for basic freedoms at home and abroad. It’s not hard to see why Trump is ducking the process: the U.S. government is already facing mounting criticism for human rights violations committed by ICE—ripping families apart, caging children, and forcing undocumented immigrants into what can only be described as modern-day concentration camps.

By abandoning the UPR, the administration is shielding itself from global accountability while doubling down on its attacks on vulnerable communities. This is not leadership—it is complicity in cruelty.

We cannot stay silent. Communities, students, and allies must make clear that we reject bigotry, authoritarianism, and the dismantling of democratic institutions.

Join Austin SDS Rally—UT Students in Opposition to the Trump Administration’s Bigoted and Reactionary Agenda! Thursday, September 4th at 5PM.

-Angela Valenzuela

Reference

Corbett, J. (2025, Aug. 28). 'Chilling Attempt to Evade Accountability': Trump to Boycott UN Human Rights Review, Common Dreams. https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-un-human-rights-council

Join Austin SDS Rally—UT Students in Opposition to the Trump Administration’s Bigoted and Reactionary Agenda! Thursday, September 4th at 5PM

@austin.sds

Join Austin SDS and other UT students in opposition to the Trump administration’s bigoted and reactionary agenda!

Deportations have only increased since Trump was inaugurated last January, tearing apart families and forcing many undocumented immigrants into modern-day concentration camps. Meanwhile, Israel’s genocide against Palestine continues, with our government supplying Israel with money and arms, while also repressing activists for speaking out against the very same atrocities that our government is funding. Coupled with the many attacks against LGBTQ rights at the federal level, it’s necessary that we, the students, continue our historic fight toward progress and stand up against these injustices!

📆 Date: Thursday, September 4th
🕛 Time: 5:00 PM
📍 Location: Main Mall (Outside the UT Tower)

Stop Trump’s Agenda!
No Deportations!
Protect Immigrant Students!

Hands Off Higher Ed Protest TODAY, Sunday, May 25, 2025—and Other Ways to Advocate for Higher Education in the State of Texas

Friends:

Important rally happening today at the Texas State Capitol from 12-3:00PM. Senate Bill 37 is still at play, going into third reading on Tuesday. There is still time to impact the bill. Please reach out to whoever represents you and tell them that this bill will negatively impact higher education in the state of Texas.

Resources from the Texas AAUP-UT Austin Blog: https://aaup-utaustin.org/

Online Advocacy You Can Do at the Texas Legislature

SB 37, which takes out academic freedom and shared goverance in one shot, will be voted by the House Higher Ed Comm May 12-16. Please take action:Email members of House to oppose the censorship bill, SB 37.
Click to call members of House to oppose the censorship bll, SB 37.
Visit Legislative offices. RSVP.
Read “Oppose SB37 to keep colleges and universities competitive“

Please act. This a critical moment for all of Texas higher education.

-Angela Valenzuela

 

MEDIA ADVISORY: Capitol Rally in Denver, Colorado to Protect K-12 Public Education, Higher Education, and Research on April 25, 10-11:00 AM

Friends:

Check out the Media Advisory below regarding a Capitol Rally and Press Conference in Denver, Colorado, next week to Protect K-12 Public Education, Higher Education, and Research on April 25, 10-11:00 AM at 200 E. Colfax. 

Yours truly will be one of the speakers at this rally.😊

Hope to see you there.

-Angela Valenzuela

All in for Equality Rally on the Capitol Steps, March 24, 2025

Happy to say that both Texas LULAC and Equality Texas had their Day of Action yesterday, March 24, 2025, at the Texas Capitol advocating for an array of policies, including trans rights, Ethnic Studies (HB 178) and Bucy's SB 393 SB 17-repeal bill. Other areas of opposition are to school vouchers and higher education anti-tenure bill SB 37. 

According to Equality Texas, yesterday was their largest statewide rally in the organization's history. Congratulations!

It's wonderful when our coalitions partner in opposition to harmful bills, as well as in support of good ones. Compliments of Equality Texas, you can view the entire press conference below. 

I love how the rally began with an honoring of the four directions.

-Angela Valenzuela

Texas LULAC at the Capitol
March 24, 2025

Miriam Laeky w Equality Texas and me

               Advocates for trans rights with Equality Texas

                        "Love is love." So simple and true.

Texas House Bill Proposes to Ban DEI in Required University Curriculum: We must OPPOSE HB 2548, HB 2311, and HB 2339

These extremists think they are so clever with their Defunding Indoctrination in Education (DIE) Act which is, of course, a play on words with the ongoing attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI.  Geez, what a lie that it "harms community" without providing evidence that this is so and without being transparent that this is an attack by white leaders on the 1964 Civil Rights Act that allowed Black and Brown communities access to public accommodations, education, employment opportunities, and voting rights by prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. 

Now, their contrived deployment of the scientistic language of "a positive return on investments...after graduation" is white supremacy disguised as race-neutral economic rationality, while reinforcing systemic barriers to access and success for marginalized communities and obscuring the structural inequalities that shape educational and career outcomes that the 1964 CRA addressed.

By framing education solely in terms of financial returns, they ignore the historical and ongoing discrimination that limits opportunities for Black and Brown communities, perpetuating the very inequities the 1964 Civil Rights Act aimed to eliminate.

Rep. Ron Reynolds is absolutely correct that HB 2548 in his analysis of the bill:

"H.B. 2548 is nothing more than an ideological gag order designed to keep students from learning the full truth about American history and society," he said in a written statement shared by AJC.

Please learn from this piece and these links about HB 2548, HB 2339, and HB 2311—and the damage that they portend. How? These bills are not just misguided—they are weapons designed to disfigure public education, siphoning resources, eroding equity, and dismantling the foundation of opportunity for marginalized communities. We must recognize this threat for what it is: a deliberate assault on our future. And we must resist—vigorously, relentlessly, and without compromise.

-Angela Valenzuela

Texas House bill proposes to ban DEI in required university curriculum

Lily Kepner, Austin American-Statesman. March 1, 2025



Before students at the University of Texas graduate, they are required to take global cultures and cultural diversity courses. It's part of a plan set in 2006 to ensure students take "skills and experiences courses" to prepare them to enter the world and hold successful careers after graduation.

Former UT President Jay Hartzell has said the university is reviewing its graduation requirements to ensure they are still best for students and the workforce. But state Rep. Cody Harris, R-Palestine, has filed a bill to limit diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education curriculum.

House Bill 2548 — one of several proposals to legislate courses and curriculum over race, gender or sexuality at public universities — comes after similar attempts in the 2023 legislative session to pass legislation to keep faculty members from "compelling" students to adopt a belief about race, sex, society or politics died in the House.

HB 2548 specifically seeks to ban coursework that is required or otherwise "constrain(ed)" — such as by "failing during any semester to provide sufficient open seats in alternative courses" — on the following topics as they "relate to contemporary American society":

• Critical race theory, whiteness, systemic racism, institutional racism, anti-racism, microaggressions, decolonization
• Race-based reparations, privilege, diversity, equity, inclusion, stratification, marginalization
• Intersectionality, gender identity, social justice, cultural competence, decolonization
• Systemic or structural bias, implicit bias, unconscious bias, decolonization

The bill would not prevent required classes on "historical movements, ideologies, or instances of racial hatred or discrimination," including slavery and the Holocaust, but it says the courses can't "distort significant historical events" or consist of curriculum based on "theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States." If degree programs specifically state they concern one of those topics, such as LGBTQ+ or African American studies, they can continue with the requirements, but other majors, like sociology, cannot.

The Austin Justice Coalition, university professors and community members came together last week to oppose Harris' bill, saying the proposal would censor diversity courses.

Chas Moore, founder and co-executive director of the Austin Justice Coalition, a local organization that advocates to improve the lives of people of color and impoverished Texans, said the bill is "another attempt to erase, eradicate and diminish very large groups of people," invalidating the experience of marginalized residents who still face oppression.

"Our college institutions ... are the places where a lot of kids, for the first time, they get to take deep dives into history," Moore said. "But now instead of incentivizing this, we want to penalize institutions, take away academic freedom, put all types of work into the administration just in the name of this crazy attack on diversity, equity, inclusion."

Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, who sponsored the conference room at the Capitol for the AJC and others, said Harris' bill follows a national pattern to "suppress discussions on system injustice and maintain the status quo of inequality."

"H.B. 2548 is nothing more than an ideological gag order designed to keep students from learning the full truth about American history and society," he said in a written statement shared by AJC. "We will not let extremists erase our history or dictate what knowledge students can access."

Harris did not return multiple American-Statesman calls seeking comment.

Other proposals

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, on the first day of the legislative session had indicated his desire to ban "critical race theory" in higher education, and many GOP lawmakers have been outwardly critical of diversity-related coursework.

Moore said at the Feb. 20 news conference that the group was highlighting Harris's bill because of his seniority. Rep. Daniel Alders, a freshman republican from Tyler, introduced a similar bill on course requirements.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation, an influential conservative think tank, released draft legislation that would push civic education as required coursework and establish an "independent School of General Education" at each higher education institution that has the "sole control over most of the new required courses," also reflecting a push to center civics and Western history over more diverse requirements.

Rep. Carl Tepper, R-Lubbock, and Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, both proposed bills that would sunset programs that do not give students a positive return on investments on average after graduation, likely in response to an interim charge from Patrick seeking to prioritize "credentials of value" over "DEI."

Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, has filed legislation to further expand the state's DEI ban in higher education. HB 2311 would fully eliminate DEI-related coursework, student organizations, research and recruitment — which were exempted in Senate Bill 17, the 2023 law by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, that prohibited DEI-related offices, programs and hiring at public universities and colleges effective Jan. 1, 2024.

Harrison also filed HB 2339, the Defunding Indoctrination in Education (DIE) Act, which would prohibit LGBTQ+ courses and programs at colleges and universities as well as any program "in diversity, equity, and inclusion, including but not limited to, promoting differential treatment of individuals on the basis of race, color, or ethnicity."
'Going to inevitably harm our communities'

Esmeralda Rubalcava Hernandez, an adjunct professor in social work at St. Edwards University and a doctorate candidate at the University of Texas at Arlington, who studies how immigration and policing intersect, said at the news conference that bills targeting higher education curriculum would prevent requiring sociology students from taking courses in diversity, giving them a limited understanding of the future people they might serve.

"To send social work, sociology, criminal justice and other students out into the profession without knowing the realities that impact every single one of us today, regardless of our racial identities, of our ancestries, we are all impacted," she said. "Not having students who know this and are out doing work in communities, is going to inevitably harm our communities. It is going to cause a great amount of danger to people who are already marginalized."

Sully Snook, at St. Edward's University senior, said they became a sociology major to "learn how the world works" and has gained valuable knowledge about society by taking diversity courses. They spoke at the conference to ensure other Texas students wouldn't lose that chance.

"I'm learning so much that lower ed doesn't teach people," Snook said in an interview after the news conference. "It's so important and impactful to be able to see the truth."

Mary Elizabeth with the Austin Justice Coalition, said Harris' bill will "stifle free exchange of ideas" and prevent societal problems from being addressed. Elizabeth, a white woman, said she was shocked to see Harris' bill would restrict required courses mentioning gender too.

"That's new for me," Elizabeth said. "While I support all marginalized groups, I want women across Texas to know they're in the spotlight as well."

Dominique Alexander, a minister who is the founder and president of social justice organization Next Generation Action Network, said Harris' bill would prevent students from learning about the racism, gender inequity and injustice in today's world and thus prevent them from solving it.

"We understand that the American history, the true American history, is a history of all," Alexander said. "This kind of censorship creates the fear of classrooms. It forced professors to second guess their words and suppress a critical conversation that is necessary to shape and inform citizens, limiting students' educational exposure."

The House Committee on Higher Education has not yet met to consider these bills. The Senate Committee on K-16 Education has not yet heard bills related to higher education curriculum.

"We cannot build a society if students are denied the tools to understand injustice," Alexander added. The next "Thurgood Marshall, Angela Davis, Barack Obama could be sitting in a Texas classroom right now. We cannot rob them of the knowledge or the courage that's needed to form and transform our society."

Eric Hepburn, a San Gabriel Unitarian Universalist fellow, introduced himself as a white Christian man who is against HB 2548 because he believes it would prevent Texans from confronting the hard truth about modern society.

"I walk here with only love in my heart," he said. "No one can be protected from the truth."

SAVE THE DATE: Poor People's Campaign Rally, Texas State Capitol, March 2, 2024 at 12PM Noon—Fight Poverty, not the Poor!

Friends,

Do save the date for a March 2, 2024 Rally at the Texas State Capitol. In this era of prioritizing the so-called "culture wars" in the policy arena, what is getting neglected and sidelined are massive policy issues of the kind noted below that affect large segments of the U.S. population.

In Texas, consider the following:

"Poverty and Low-Wages: Poverty is a policy choice, reflecting both low wages and high costs of living. These two conditions make it hard to meet basic needs and easy to fall into debt. In Texas: Between 2018-2020, there were 11,831,000 poor and low-income people, accounting for 41.1% of the population.**

To meet their basic needs, a household with two adults and two children needs to earn over $23/hour. However, the current minimum wage is just $7.25/hour. At this wage, an individual must work 124 hours/week to afford a modest two­ bedroom apartment."

No matter how high-sounding our state officials are in their rhetoric about Texas' economy, the reality is that tons of folks are desperate and can't make it without getting into crippling debt. They just can't.

I really appreciate what the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign (PPC), has been doing to shine a light on such gaping inequalities in our state, as well as in other states nationwide. His is a "National Call for Moral Revival.

Mark your calendars for March 2nd and make use of the many resources at the PPC website. This link takes you to a map of the PPC's work across the U.S. Once you pick a state, the website directs you to a sign-up link for your state. For example, here is the link for Texas so that you can remain regularly informed.

Thanks to Dr. Jesse McNeil for reaching out and sharing all this excellent information.

-Angela Valenzuela

A NATIONAL CALL for MORAL REVIVAL

TEXAS FACT SHEET • 2023

In 2019, before the pandemic hit, 140 million Americans were living in poverty or just one emergency away from economic ruin: 60% of Black people (24 million), 64% of Hispanic/ Latino people (38 million), 40% of Asian people (8 million), 60% of Indigenous and Native people (2 million) and 33% of white people (66 million).* These tens of millions of people live in every region, state and county in the country. Poverty was the fourth leading cause of death. claiming 183,000 deaths in 2019, or over 800 deaths a day.

The pandemic festered in these fissures, taking root in systemic racism, poverty, the denial of health care, ecological devastation, wealth inequality and rampant military spending. During the first two years, governments at all levels responded to the crisis by expanding access to health care, housing, water, food and utilities. These overdue changes proved that in the world's richest country, we can ensure a dignified life for all. But these pandemic programs were temporary.

When they ended abruptly, poverty and related interlocking injustices began to rise once again.

While millions of people remain without work, living wages, housing, clean water, food or health care, corporations and the wealthy are doing exceedingly well. Between 2020-2022. billionaire wealth grew by $1.5 trillion - more than $2 billion a day.

Religious and moral texts are clear that making policy that does not protect the rights of the poor and puts the cause of the wealthy first is evil and wrong. Isaiah 10 says, "Woe to those who legislate evil, who make unjust laws to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed." Jeremiah 22 reminds us, ''Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor those who have been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the immigrant, the orphan, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place." Matthew 25 tells us, "'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me."'

Indeed. the first governing principle of the US Constitution is to establish justice.

If we do not want to enable this wrongdoing, we must speak out and stand. up against it. This is why the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is organizing across the nation: to reveal these injustices, change the narrative, and build our power.

Fight Poverty, not the Poor!

* The PPC:NCMR created this fact sheet using the most comprehensive and current publicly available data through May 2023. Where possible, data is disaggregated to reflect the complex reality of the interrelated injustices contained in this document. Unfortunately, there are significant gaps in racial, ethnic and other demographic data, reflecting gaps in data collection and statistical methodologies, which the PPC:NCMR cannot control. We continue to push for improvements to fill those gaps.

IN TEXAS:

Poverty and Low-Wages: Poverty is a policy choice, reflecting both low wages and high costs of living. These two conditions make it hard to meet basic needs and easy to fall into debt. In Texas: Between 2018-2020, there were 11,831,000 poor and low-income people, accounting for 41.1% of the population.**

To meet their basic needs, a household with two adults and two children needs to earn over $23/hour. However, the current minimum wage is just $7.25/hour. At this wage, an individual must work 124 hours/week to afford a modest two­ bedroom apartment.

There are 5,692,294 people, or 39.8% of the workforce, earning less than $15 I hour. This includes 5,159,650 adults and 26.1% of Asian and Native workers, 48.3% of Black workers, 54.2% of Hispanic workers, 26.5% of white workers, 49.2% of working women and 60.3% of working women of color. Average household debt rose 9% in 2022 to an average of $54,290. Average student loan debt held by households was $5,330 at the end of 2022.

Rolling Back on Basic Needs: Pandemic relief policies temporarily lifted the load of poverty, but ended too soon, resulting in higher rates of economic, food and housing insecurity. In Texas:In 2021, 6,660,000 children in 3,899,000 households received the exP-anded Child Tax Credit and 1,396,0_00 low-wage workers without children received the exP-anded Earned Income Tax Credit. The expansions contributed to a dramatic decline in poverty, but ended in 2021.

In 2022, 3,440,700 people relied on expanded SNAP (food stamP-s} benefits to feed themselves and their families. However, in 2023, SNAP benefits were reduced by $90-$250 I month, cutting them down to $6 /day.At least 1,337,451 people will be impacted by these cuts.
At the beginning of 2023, more than one year after eviction protections were ended,1,263,789 households reported being behind on their rent or housing payments.

Health Care and the Pandemic: Across the country, approximately 1,000 people are still dying from Covid every week and millions of people lack access to health care. In Texas: During the most intense period of the pandemic, 5,202,500 people were uninsured.
With the ending of continuous eligibility for Medicaid, 833,600 people are estimated to lose access to health care.

Between 2019 and 2020, Texas experienced a 2.1-year decline in average life expectancy.
Approximately 10.8 million workers, or 74% of the workforce in the state, do not have access to Paid leave.

Climate Crisis and Ecological Devastation: Extreme heat, storms, and drought are becoming more common, with poor and low­ income communities at greatest risk. 

In Texas: Over the past century, the state warmed 0.8 degrees Celsius. As this trend continues, food production, spread of diseases, and health will all be adversely impacted.

Precipitation Patterns have also changed, with increased risks of flooding, drought, and water scarcity.

The percentage of poor and low-income household income that goes towards energy. costs is 6 times greater than what an average income household spends on energy.

The percentage of poor and low-income household income that goes towards water costs is 5 times greater than what an average income household spends on water.

Militarism: Government spending that prioritizes war, mass incarceration, excessive policing, and anti-immigrant forces is leading to greater violence, fear and criminalization of the poor. In Texas. In 2023, taxpayers will contribute $7.93 billion to Pentagon spending, $2.25 billion to immigration enforcement, and $2.72 billion to nuclear weapons.
Over the past 30 years, $135 million in military equipment (tanks, drones, combat rifles, and ammunition) has been transferred from the Pentagon to state and local law enforcement.
Between 2001-2020, 9,551 veterans committed suicide.

In 2021, 4,613 people were killed by gun violence.

There are 200,504 people incarcerated. As of April 2023, 9,973 immigrants are in detention.
From Oct 2002-June 2022, over 2,434,899 people were deported from Texas.

** Source: Calculated by the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University using data from 2019-2021 Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey. Data retrieved from IPUMS-CPS (ipums.org).

Democracy across the nation, a surge of attacks on voting rights and on the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people are denying basic nights to millions of people and constraining our ability to participate in democracy. Poor and low-income people can change this direction. In Texas: There were 166 voter restrictive bills introduced between 2020 and 2023, and 63 anti-LGBTQ+  law introduced in 2023. Three voter restriction bills and one anti-LGBTQ+ bill were passed.

In 2022, abortion was banned, and performing an abortion was made a felony punishable by up to life in prison.

In Texas, there are 7,173,884 P-OOr and low-income eligible voters, including 3,824,783 white voters, 2,415,203 Latino voters, 72,516 Asian voters, 654,460 Black voters and 1,964 Indigenous voters. Together, they account for 33.76% of the electorate.

There is an abundance of wealth and resources to meet our basic needs and ensure we all survive and thrive.A proposed federal tax on the annual increase in billionaires' wealth would generate an estimated $557 billion over 1O years. Texas has 71 billionaires with a combined wealth of $584 billion. The state has zero personal income tax.

In Texas, state taxpayer dollars are being siphoned towards militarism: state taxpayer dollars for deportations and border control could instead subsidize more than 349,725 public housing units. Taxpayer dollars going to nuclear weapons could provide health insurance for 838,118 children. Taxpayer dollars going to the biggest weapons contractor Lockheed Martin. could hire more than 43,689 elementary school teachers.

More than $746.74 million from Texas taxpayers that is going to federal prisons could instead power more than 1.68 million households with solar energy.

Texas has only spent $9 billion of the $15.8 billion it was allocated under the American Rescue Plan, which could be used for housing, health care and other pressing needs. If the state and local governments do not allocate these resources by December 2024, the remaining funds will be lost.

Moving these resources, and investing more, to fully meet all of our needs will save lives and revive our national economy.During the pandemic, eviction moratoria and moratoria on utility. disconnections saved lives. If enacted earlier, they could have reduced Covid deaths by 40% and 15%, respectively, across the nation. Universal health care could have saved 330,000 lives.

Enacting Medicare for All will save $450 billion in health care costs and 68,000 lives every year.

Ending mass incarceration could raise average US life expectancy by five ears.

Providing Permanent safe housing delivers lifelong benefits to children and families at a national average cost of $12,800 per person per year, far less than the cost of crisis services for those suffering chronic homelessness. Paid Family and Medical Leave improves employment, especially among women, increases child well-being, and protects against poverty when health challenges arise.

Increasing resources for the poor stimulates the economy much more than making the rich even richer, because the poor need to spend nearly everything they earn. Every dollar going to a low-wage worker adds $1.20 to the economy overall. Every dollar spent on food stamps generates $1.50-$1.80 in economic activity, EXPanded unemployment insurance during the pandemic protected 5.1 million jobs by boosting economic activity.
The expanded Child Tax Credit was estimated to have a greater impact on the economy than military spending, without negative impacts on employment.

Overdue improvements to TANF could triple its reach and improve the lives of at least 2.38 million families nationwide.

Every dollar invested in Providing families clean water and P-rDP-er sanitation yields 5 times as many returns to the US economy.

Freedom from debt would allow more people to start small businesses and move around the country to take better jobs, strengthening our economy and workforce.

There are more than 7,173,844 poor and low-income voters in Texas and 85 million across the nation. Together, we account for one-third of the electorate. Together, we can ensure that the days of poverty and low wages - and the unnecessary cruelty of abandonment amidst abundance - are numbered. Together, we can revive the heart and soul of this democracy to ensure dignity and justice for all. Forward together, not one step back!

For more information and resources, visit poorpeoplescampaign.org.