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By Nick Reynolds
Senior Reporter, Politics
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Texas officials are planning to build a new college with close ties to major Republican donors at its flagship public university, drawing concern of possible interference with the autonomy of the state university system.
On Thursday, The University of Texas System Board of Regents—the majority of which consist of donors to the state's Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, per reporting in The Texas Tribune—unanimously voted to create a new college within the University of Texas at Austin to house the Civitas Institute, a program at the university that has drawn scrutiny over its close ties to conservative donors and state lawmakers.
Previously called the Liberty Institute, the center's origins began as an effort "dedicated to the study and teaching of individual liberty, limited government, private enterprise and free markets," and was seen by backers as a means of improving political diversity on campus, amid a national debate over ideological bias in education.
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But it also raised fears of being ideologically motivated, with critics quick to point out its ties to oil billionaire Ben "Bud" Brigham and Dallas billionaire Harlan Crow, who recently gained attention for hundreds of thousands of dollars in previously undisclosed gifts he had given to conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
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The vote notably came just several months after a February decision by the board to pause all new policies promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at each of its campuses in a move mirroring similar efforts in red states around the country.
The board's chairman, Kevin Eltife, said at the time the move was inspired by concerns that certain unspecified DEI efforts in the system had "strayed from the original intent to now imposing requirements and actions that, rightfully so, has raised the concerns of our policymakers around those efforts on campuses across our entire state."
Its supporters, meanwhile, saw the effort as an attempt to provide ideological balance on campus.
Data shows that registered Democrats significantly outnumber Republicans with tenure at college faculties around the country. Research by the conservative-leaning National Association of Scholars in 2020 found Democrats outnumber Republican colleagues by 8.5 to 1 in the faculties of top-ranked public and private institutions in each state. A 2018 survey published by The New York Times found just six percent of university administrators classify themselves as conservatives, compared with 71 percent who identify as liberal.
In the 2021-2022 session, Tennessee Republicans passed legislation creating a new Institute of American Civics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, designed to "enhance education in the fields of politics, economics, philosophy, American history, American government, and other related fields as appropriate, with a focus on the rights and responsibilities of American citizenship."
Arizona, meanwhile, established a similar center in 2017 that helps develop K-12 social studies curriculum and supports teacher education. In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has controversially sought to remake the board of the liberal arts institute known as the New College with conservatives in an effort to combat so-called "woke" education policies.
But the push for expanding the Civitas Institute—hailed by UT-Austin President Jay Hartzell as a potentially "transformational" institute for future leaders—also comes against allegations last year that UT-Austin administrators were shying from their original mission.
According to a series of emails obtained by The Texas Tribune last summer, two professors who helped develop the new center alleged Hartzell had largely backed off initial plans to bring "intellectual diversity" to campus in an apparent response to public criticism.
Others characterized the events as yet another in a saga of incidents involving conservatives at the college, including one in which protesters tore up signs carried by a group supporting the controversial confirmation of conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
Newsweek has reached out to the University of Texas at Austin via email for comment.
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