Politicians target speech on university campuses
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The administrative tower on the University of Texas campus in Austin. Illustration: Axios Visuals
Speech on the college quad is once again on the front lines of America's culture and political wars.
Why it matters: With increasing velocity, politics is reaching into university campuses to shape the makeup of students and teachers, curricula, and the words that can be uttered inside and outside the classroom.
The latest: On Friday, following the murder of Republican activist Charlie Kirk on a Utah college campus, Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, both Republicans, announced the formation of special committees on civil discourse and freedom of speech in higher education.
- "The political assassination of Charlie Kirk — and the national reaction it has sparked, including the public celebration of his murder by some in higher education — is appalling and reveals a deeper, systemic problem worth examining," Burrows said in a statement.
The announcement capped a week in which, following pressure from Gov. Greg Abbott, a Texas A&M instructor was fired after a video recorded in a children's literature class showed a clash over gender-identity content.
- A Texas State University student on Tuesday was expelled after mocking Kirk's death at a memorial event. University president Kelly Damphousse called the behavior reprehensible.
The intrigue: Tenure, long a cornerstone in academic freedom, no longer appears to insulate professors from political pressure.
- Texas State University fired a tenured professor after a video circulating on X showed him calling hypothetically for the overthrow of the U.S. government. (The professor, whom the university president accused of "inciting violence," is now threatening to sue the university if he isn't rehired.)
- A 2023 state law allows an institution's president to fire a professor for several reasons, including "good cause as defined in the institution's policies."
The other side: "This firing ignores principles of due process and free speech that are fundamental to higher education," officials with the UT chapter of the American Association of University Professors posted on X last week following the Texas State dismissal.
The big picture: President Trump and MAGA spent years lampooning censorship, discrimination against conservatives and progressive "cancel culture."
- Now in power — and riding an outpouring of grief and fury over Kirk's death — they're embracing free speech limits as they punish ideological opponents.
Zoom out: The speech questions are also at play on the K-12 level. The Texas Education Agency is investigating roughly 180 complaints against teachers who have been accused of making inappropriate comments online about conservative Kirk's killing, per the Texas Tribune.
Between the lines: Texas Sen. Brandon Creighton, the Republican architect of laws eliminating diversity programs on campuses — as well as the 2023 law giving more latitude to university presidents to fire faculty — was named this month as the sole finalist for chancellor of the Texas Tech system.
Reality check: The clash of politics and freedom of speech has long roiled college campuses, going back at least to the Vietnam era. And before that, segregationist governors tried to prevent desegregation of public universities in the post-Brown period.
- More recently, last year saw arrests on campuses in Texas and across the country during pro-Palestinian demonstrations.