Senate Bill 37, the “Death Star” bill for Texas colleges and universities, had its last public hearing this past Tuesday (May 6). Our higher education members and community advocates came out in droves, from all over Texas, to testify against a bill that would overhaul our higher education system.
They were stymied, however, when registration to testify or take a position on SB 37 was closed abruptly at 8:30 a.m., a first for the House Higher Education Committee. Even last week, when this same committee heard HB 232 — a bill that would place barriers to pathways for in-state tuition for DREAMers — registration was kept open until the hearing was adjourned at the end of the night. Considering that HB 232 was the first widely controversial bill the committee heard this session, we had expected the committee to treat SB 37 testimony the same.
Given the consequential nature of SB 37, it’s disappointing to see this attempt to silence constituent voices. Most of our members arrived at the Capitol by 7:30 a.m. to register, but many other faculty and students were still on their way to Austin when registration closed.
SB 37 is the product of legislators writing law with nothing but anecdotes as their justification. If our state lawmakers want to pass a sweeping higher education reform package, it requires difficult conversations, much like the discussions the bill seeks to censor in college classrooms. We cannot have those conversations if testimony registration is cut short.
Faculty, students, and community advocates flood the House Higher Education Committee hearing room.
Despite this setback, faculty and students waited 18 hours to testify, some even staying despite being cut off from registering. Those who weren’t able to make it in person submitted online comments, which appear in 147 pages of online testimony almost unanimously against the bill.
Our members’ testimonies proved that they are the true experts on how their universities should function.
Although the House committee introduced a new committee substitute of SB 37, claiming this version is much more “implementable” than the Senate engrossed version, no form of this bill should pass. Our members made this clear in their testimonies, with each witness echoing, “I am against all versions of SB 37.”
Nationally, there is no definition of shared governance or faculty senates in statute. If any version of SB 37 passes, Texas would be the first state to pass a law of this kind. It sets a dangerous precedent for future legislative sessions, and as we’ve seen from how 2023’s SB 17 was implemented, will be used to further censor our most marginalized faculty and student groups.
Right now, the bill is left pending in committee. Sen. Brandon Creighton, Gov. Greg Abbott, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick put our K-12 schools at risk by passing vouchers. SB 37 is another one of their priority bills, and it puts our colleges and universities at similarly great danger. We can’t let them pass SB 37. We need to make sure this vote is delayed as much as possible, and to reinforce our strong opposition to all forms of SB 37.