In its ongoing race to beat Florida for the title of “America’s Most Inept State,” the Texas state legislature has passed a series of bills that would greatly censor the educational curriculum taught in the state’s universities and ban student-led groups centered around race, gender, or sexuality in public K-12 schools. Why? Well, because of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), of course.
According to AP News, SB37 will mandate that all Texas universities submit their curriculum to a governing board to make sure it meets state requirements. The board would have the power to overturn changes in the curriculum it doesn’t agree with, oversee hiring for key administrative positions, and could eliminate minor degree/certificate programs due to enrollment.
Since this is Texas we’re talking about, the bill also creates a state ombudsman’s office to address any concerns if a university isn’t adhering to the state’s ban on DEI programs.
Boy, that sure isn’t a waste of taxpayer dollars.
These moves are chilling because higher education historically has been centered around the free exchange of ideas. No matter what side of the aisle you’re on, there are certain historical truths that are going to make you uncomfortable, philosophies you’re going to disagree with. Confronting those ideas and truths is part of what makes higher education worth the cost of admission. This essentially removes the autonomy from students and educators and places it in the hands of government officials who are only interested in one point of view: their own.
While SB37 gives the government more control over university curriculum, SB12 targets DEI programs in K-12 schools. The bill bans students from forming groups based on race, gender, or sexual orientation. So groups like the Gay-Straight Alliance will be banned at Texas schools.
This is the slippery slope of book banning. It starts by screaming PORN, and evolves into a whackadoodle school board removing entire chapters from state approved science textbooks.
This is happening IN MY DISTRICT. Teachers are scrambling how to teach students and develop… https://t.co/lwsBOopIx4 pic.twitter.com/NjuVFkY2dW
— Sara McGee for Texas HD 132 (@SaraForTexLege) May 29, 2025
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It should come as no surprise that this bill was authored by Republican state Senator Brandon Creighton, who also authored the Texas bill that outlawed DEI programs in state universities. There was at least one person with some degree of sense in Democratic state Rep. Chris Turner, who called the bill unnecessarily divisive and said it would prove harmful to students.
“That same government is going to say to high school kids, ‘you cannot be in a club with people like you,’” Turner told his colleagues. “Think how wrong that is.”
Both bills have made it to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk and are expected to go into effect this fall.
Postsecondary education has been under continuous assault at both the state and federal levels since President Trump took office in January. The Department of Education (DOE) sent a “Dear Colleague,” letter earlier this year that threatened to pull federal funding from any school who have programs and initiatives that could remotely be considered DEI. They even launched a whole task force designed to investigate schools that don’t comply with the Trump administration’s anti-DEI crusade.
This has resulted in schools such as MIT sunsetting their DEI programs, and Columbia University canceling a class focused on the role race plays in the media. Harvard University has borne the brunt of the Trump administration’s attacks, with the school’s federal funding being frozen and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) moving to revoke the university’s ability to accept international students.
For a party that claims to love free speech, they sure love to censor every single idea that makes them the slightest bit uncomfortable.
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