U of Texas Makes It Easier to Fire Faculty, Close Programs

Revised UT System personnel policy changes establish new grounds to close academic departments. Rule 31003, approved unanimously, allows presidents to shutter programs not only for academic reasons like low enrollment or poor program quality and for financial exigency, but also for “extraordinary circumstances.” These circumstances can require “accelerated program closure due to regulatory requirements” and can bypass typical review procedures. The board states the revisions aim to improve efficiency and usability and were developed with stakeholders across the UT System. Faculty members report they were not made aware of the changes and learned only when the board posted the agenda 72 hours before the meeting, the minimum notice period under Texas law. Faculty argue earlier notice would have enabled pushback and that mechanisms for campus discussion are no longer available.

"The revised rule 31003, approved unanimously last week by voice vote, establishes new grounds to close academic departments. In addition to academic reasons—such as low enrollment or poor program quality—and financial exigency, presidents can now shutter programs due to “extraordinary circumstances” that necessitate “accelerated program closure due to regulatory requirements” and bypass typical review procedures."

"Most faculty learned about the proposed revisions when the board posted the agenda 72 hours before the board meeting, which is the minimum notice period required by Texas law, Evans explained. “They already got rid of faculty senates. There is no faculty group to circulate these proposals. It does not exist,” Evans said. “If you really want a discussion, you want all four major stakeholders inside the campus community to have a discussion, that's not possible. There's no such mechanism anymore.”"

"The revisions are an effort by the board to “improve efficiency and usability” of the rules, which the board revisits periodically. They were developed “in collaboration with stakeholders throughout the U.T. System,” the agenda states. But faculty members were not made aware of the changes, said Brian Evans, an engineering professor at UT Austin and president of the Texas American Association of University Professors-American Federation of Teachers."

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