The professor, an expert on the opioids crisis, was placed on paid administrative leave and investigated, raising questions about the extent of political interference in higher education, particularly in health-related matters.
I have ties to this university, and I asked my colleagues who are still there. It sounds like professors at A&M are really shaken by this revelation and the other brouhaha around the failed hiring of Kathleen McElroy. I wouldn’t be surprised if professors start abandoning the university in droves.
I have a colleague who works at a state school in Florida who said at an online virtual panel a few months ago that “the Great Resignation” had her institution down 30% of all staff/faculty roles because of COVID. I audibly gasped hearing that. But also, she’s dead wrong - that isn’t the COVID Great Resignation anymore, that’s the consequence of DeSantis eroding professor autonomy and tenure protections in the state of Florida. Texas appears soon to repeat these issues.
I misread that 30% as 3% at first, and was like, “That’s not so ba…oh. OH. Oh shit.”
The thing is, to folks like DeSantis, that’s probably a good thing. They don’t want people to be educated. They want to scare off anyone who might challenge the points of view they want taught. Chilling effects like this are a bonus to them.
I fully clutched my pearls when I heard that 30% figure. You just simply cannot run a large state, public university to scale when you’re down that many critical staff members. Something is suffering there.
I go back and forth whether it’s really the case that politicians like DeSantis are big-picture minded enough to actively downgrade the quality of education across a state like Pol Pot did in Cambodia, to discourage critical thinking and increase dogmatic loyalty. Instead, I think it’s more likely that people like DeSantis are myopically cruel and just want to hurt a subset of people so badly that they don’t see the larger consequences.
Anyway, regarding Texas A&M, it’s quickly about to no longer be the largest university in America in the next two years. The former president was so unpopular there and she introduced such huge changes to the institution (a big reason why I left) that they just can’t be undone with a new university president. This is such a mess that I can’t imagine who on God’s green earth will take on this role. Chancellor Sharp is unlikely to hire anyone with a spine to dissent to him and the good ol’ boys who exert quiet influence over the school. And anyone with half a lick of ethics and integrity is going to see the institution as radioactive at this point. I can’t help but predict that only grifters will self-select into the president’s chair. A&M is going to race itself to the bottom.
Oh no, the big baby cant take facts or criticism so they must silence people with force. My God this country is in trouble if things don’t change.
