Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, has pledged to end faculty tenure at the state's public colleges and revoke the status for professors who teach critical race theory. The proposal escalates a nationwide GOP movement against the decades-old academic framework. Patrick was reacting to a resolution by the University of Texas at Austin's faculty council affirming instructors' rights to teach race-related and social justice topics. Patrick's comments generated a firestorm from faculty and free speech groups, which said abolishing tenure would strike at academic freedom. UT-Austin's president also released a statement defending tenure.
