The University of Texas Systems Board of Regents unanimously approved Thursday a rule requiring its universities to ensure students can graduate without studying unnecessary controversial subjects, despite warnings it could leave them less prepared for the real world.
The rule also requires faculty to disclose in their syllabi the topics they plan to cover and adhere to the plan, and says that when courses include controversial issues, instructors must ensure a broad and balanced approach to the discussion.
The policy does not define what qualifies as controversial or what constitutes a broad and balanced approach. Opponents warned that leaving those terms undefined would force administrators to interpret them case by case, pressuring professors to avoid difficult material rather than risk complaints.
Will they (administrators) be experts in the relevant disciplines or will they just seek to avoid unpleasant publicity? Peter Onyisi, a University of Texas at Austin physics professor, said during roughly 40 minutes of public testimony from 10 speakers, a mix of faculty, students and alumni who all opposed the policy.
Board Chair Kevin Eltife said the lack of specificity came as the system tried to craft a policy that could work in todays politically charged environment.
We are in difficult times, he said. Vagueness can be our friend.
Other speakers said restricting controversial material would leave students unprepared for careers that require navigating complex, unsettled political and social problems.
The job market is really tough right now, ask any undergrad, said David Gray Widder, a professor in UT-Austins School of Information. We cant do this to our students.
A civil rights attorney also warned the rule could invite legal challenges. Allen Liu, policy counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said it could lead to viewpoint discrimination and disproportionately affect Black students and faculty by discouraging teaching about slavery, segregation and other subjects central to Black history.
The UT System has had a rule for at least a decade stating faculty are entitled to freedom in the classroom but are expected not to introduce into their teaching controversial matter that has no relation to his or her subject.
The vote comes a week after UT-Austin announced it will consolidate its African and African Diaspora Studies, Mexican American and Latino Studies, American Studies, and Womens, Gender and Sexuality Studies departments into a new Social and Cultural Analysis department. More than 800 students are pursuing majors, minors and graduate degrees in the affected programs. At the time, university President Jim Davis said the reorganization followed a review that found some significant inconsistencies and fragmentation across departments in the College of Liberal Arts.
Over the past year, public universities have faced mounting pressure from state and federal leaders to address a perceived liberal bias. Under a new state law, Senate Bill 37, governor-appointed regents have more oversight of classroom instruction, hiring and discipline. That, coupled with conservative backlash last fall over a gender identity lesson at Texas A&M University, has led the Texas A&M and Texas Tech systems to adopt policies restricting how race, gender, sexuality can be taught.
The policy UT passed Thursday does not explicitly ban those topics.
Last year, UT-Austin was also one of nine universities offered preferential access to federal funding in exchange for agreeing to ensure departments reflect a mix of perspectives and promote civic values and Western civilization, among other requirements.
Some students argue that even without formally signing the agreement, UT-Austin is already moving in that direction. Alfonso Ayala III, a doctoral student in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at UT-Austin, pointed to the university expanding the conservative-backed School of Civic Leadership as his department loses autonomy.
Its hard to understand this as anything other than ideological and political, Ayala said.
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This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
得克萨斯大学系统董事会于周四一致通过一项规定，要求其下属各大学确保学生在不修读"非必要争议性课程"的情况下也能毕业。尽管有警告称，此举可能导致学生缺乏应对现实世界的充分准备。
该规定还要求教师在课程大纲中明确列出计划讲授的主题并严格遵守，同时指出，当课程涉及争议性议题时，教师必须确保采用“全面且平衡的方式”进行讨论。
该政策未明确界定何为“争议性”内容或“全面平衡的方法”。反对者警告称，若不对这些术语进行定义，将迫使行政人员逐案解读，进而导致教授们为避免投诉压力而回避敏感教学内容。
“他们（管理者）会成为相关领域的专家，还是仅仅试图避免负面舆论？”德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校物理学教授彼得·奥尼西在约40分钟的公开听证会上表示。这场听证会共有10人发言，包括教师、学生和校友，他们均对该政策表示反对。
董事会主席凯文·埃尔蒂夫表示，由于该系统试图制定一项适用于当今政治敏感环境的政策，因此缺乏具体细节。
“我们正身处艰难时期，”他说道，“模棱两可或许能成为我们的盟友。”
其他发言者表示，限制争议性材料会使学生在面对需要处理复杂、未解决的政治和社会问题的职业时准备不足。
“当前就业市场非常艰难，随便问个大学生都知道，”德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校信息学院的教授戴维·格雷·维德说道，“我们不能这样对待学生。”
一位民权律师警告称，该规定可能引发法律诉讼。美国全国有色人种协进会法律辩护基金会政策顾问刘艾伦（Allen Liu）指出，此举或导致“观点歧视”，并通过阻碍关于奴隶制、种族隔离等黑人历史核心议题的教学，对黑人学生和教师造成不成比例的影响。
得克萨斯大学系统至少十年来一直实行一项规定，明确教师在课堂上享有教学自由，但“不得在教学中引入与所授课程无关的争议性内容”。
在得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校宣布将非洲与非洲侨民研究、墨西哥裔美国人与拉美裔研究、美国研究以及女性、性别与性研究等院系合并为一个新的社会与文化分析学系一周后，校方进行了投票表决。受影响的专业中，有800多名学生正在攻读主修、辅修及研究生学位。当时，校长吉姆·戴维斯表示，此次重组是基于一项审查结果，该审查发现文理学院下属各院系存在"一些严重的矛盾与割裂现象"。
过去一年间，公立大学面临着来自州和联邦领导人日益增长的压力，要求其解决所谓的自由派偏见问题。根据新颁布的州法律《参议院第37号法案》，由州长任命的校董会成员对课堂教学、招聘和纪律管理拥有更多监督权。加之去年秋季德克萨斯农工大学（Texas A&M）因一堂性别认同课程引发的保守派强烈反对，德克萨斯农工大学与德克萨斯理工大学系统已相继出台政策，限制种族、性别和性取向相关课程的教学方式。
德克萨斯大学周四通过的政策并未明确禁止这些议题。
去年，得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校（UT-Austin）成为九所获得联邦资金优先拨付资格的高校之一，条件是校方需确保各院系体现多元视角、弘扬公民价值观与西方文明等要求。
部分学生指出，即便尚未正式签署协议，得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校已朝该方向推进。该校墨西哥裔美国人与拉丁裔研究专业的博士生阿方索·阿亚拉三世（Alfonso Ayala III）提到，在其所在院系丧失自主权的同时，大学却正在扩建由保守派支持的公民领导力学院。
阿亚拉表示：“这很难不被理解为意识形态和政治行为。”
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本文最初由《得克萨斯论坛报》发表，并通过与美联社的合作进行分发。
原创文章，作者：徐梓涵，如若转载，请注明出处：http://m.gaochengzhenxuan.com/news/5873.html
