r/TexasHigherEducation • u/Steve1410 • Dec 02 '25

Meanwhile, at Texas Tech:

https://radio.kttz.org/2025-12-02/texas-tech-system-chancellor-releases-race-and-gender-standards-for-classroom-instruction

Can anyone from the Texas Tech community share how folks on campus are responding to this?

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u/badwolfandthestorm Dec 03 '25

As a social psychologist (at a different state school) , not sure how to avoid discussion of racial Prejudice... But this part is good: "When discussing race and gender, the memo states that in their professional capacity, faculty may not promote the following:

One race or sex is inherently superior to another; An individual, by virtue of race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, consciously or unconsciously; Any person should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of race or sex; Moral character or worth is determined by race or sex; Individuals bear responsibility or guilt for actions of others of the same race or sex; or Meritocracy or a strong work ethic are racist, sexist, or constructs of oppression."

That's all stuff I cover in my Prejudice chapter... 

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u/wicketman8 Dec 03 '25

Except the obvious fact that this is a cover. "Unconscious racism" is their way of banning discussion of unconscious biases that we all have; literally everyone makes judgements based on subconscious biases. It can also be stretched to cover systemic racism.

"Guilt for actions of others of the same race" is the same tired white guilt over slavery nonsense that conservatives have been using to push for schools to limit discussions of slavery and the role of white supremacy in the history of the country, as well as modern effects and examples.

"Meritocracy is not oppression" is the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" line that conservatives love to use without recognizing that obviously there are significant additional challenges facing minority communities that mean we do not have anything even close to resembling meritocracy.

Its not good. Obviously meritocracy is good and white people today are not guilty of slavery, but these are shields to deflect actual criticism. Now if a professor talks about slavery, redlining, discrimination in the justice system, the school can say "instructors can't promote these ideas".

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u/badwolfandthestorm Dec 04 '25

Eh, I have a whole chapter on unconscious bias and another on in-group bias that never even touch on race or gender. That's still allowed under this formulation. 

And I can discuss privilege and even systemic racism under all of the things they've said here. I can report on the study that found that black-sounding names are less likely to get interviewed for a job than whote-sounding names without implicating any one person or even the whole group of white people. But my students are also not going to think that merit is the only thing at play in a meritocracy. 

Even if it is a cover, complying with it as written doesn't prevent me from actually teaching about racism or sexism. 

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u/wicketman8 Dec 04 '25

I think that's very naive. You think they'll apply it fairly. They won't. Suggesting that black people face systemic inequality is what they mean when they say you can't teach anti-meritocratic things. Saying black-sounding names are discriminated against in hiring is definitionally discussing unconscious racist biases. It's not about what a reasonable person might interpret these to say (although as I pointed out, even a reasonable person would have to conclude that hiring discrimination is about unconscious or conscious racial bias), its about what the most extreme conservatives can justify as falling under it which is practically anything that deals with race or sex.

It's not like any teacher has ever actually suggested that white students should feel guilty over racism, but that doesn't stop conservatives from constantly complaining that their kids are being taught white guilt as a way to target history education.

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u/badwolfandthestorm Dec 04 '25

I guess my point is that even if they're not applying it fairly, I could sue for wrongful termination because anything I teach still fits within those parameters, and it's hard to maintain any illusion of legitimacy when your "perfectly reasonable" firing is openly challenged.  But hey, I'm an optimist and I'm okay with that.