Colleges Brace For Onslaught Of Problematic Higher Education Bills

New legislative sessions will begin this month in most states. Look for a host of bills pertaining to higher education to be filed. If recent years and the bills that have already been prefiled by legislators are any indication, higher ed leaders will be busy trying to defeat, deflect, or deflate a range of bad legislation ranging from the merely misguided to the mainly malicious.

From tenure to guns, curriculum to Covid-19, state legislators will be pursuing new bills intended to end or amend a number of important campus policies.

Tenure

In South Carolina, a group of 23 Republicans have pre-filed H. bill 4522, which if enacted, would stop public colleges and universities in that state from awarding tenure to faculty members hired after December 31, 2022. Under the provisions of the bill, titled the “Cancelling Professor Tenure Act,” faculty who currently have tenure would not be affected, but new hires would have their employment contracts limited to a term of no longer than five years.

Of course, legislative attempts to end tenure are nothing new. Iowa has made an almost annual ritual out of it. So far, the attempts have not been successful, but the zeal of those on the political right to prove their conservative bona fides heightens the chances that strongly anti-tenure bills may be passed.

Guns

Apparently convinced that more guns will make for safer campuses, Missouri Representative Chuck Basye (R – District 47) has prefiled HB 1751, which authorizes individuals who have a permit for concealed firearms to carry them on the premises of public institutions of higher education.

The bill would allow colleges to implement policies regarding permits to carry firearms, but “these policies shall not extend to any general prohibition on carrying, chambering, active operation, or storage of concealed firearms.”

The bill also would prohibit any contractual requirement or condition of employment that would prohibit faculty, employees, or students from “carrying, chambering, active operation, or storage of concealed firearms” at public institutions. Finally, public universities would be banned from charging a tax, fee, or other monetary charge as a condition to lawfully possess and carry a firearm.

According to one review, 10 states have campus carry policies mandating that concealed firearms be allowed on campus. Look for more to try to join that group this year.

Curriculum

The majority of states have either already passed or will be considering various bills intended to prevent the teaching of critical race theory (CRT) and other race-related concepts at state institutions. Never mind that CRT is seldom taught outside of law schools or the occasional graduate seminar, Republican governors and legislatures are determined to burn that bridge before it’s ever crossed.

And all signs point to growing efforts in many states to ban or diminish other topics from college curricula. What’s next on the prohibited list? Here are some likely candidates: LGBTQ-related content, the 2020 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and any topics deemed to be “divisive” or “discriminatory.” Bills that would restrict college classroom content and viewpoints are becoming increasingly popular.

Covid-19

And, of course, more states will consider bills that would prohibit a variety of Covid-19 precautions such as vaccines and masks from being mandated by state institutions. Under the guise of protecting individual freedoms, such legislation will make it all the more difficult for colleges to operate safely and in a manner resembling anything like the old normal.

The legality of these state bans continue to be litigated, with some judges throwing them out for being unconstitutional, but that will not stop legislators from introducing such bills.

Other Topics

• Don’t be surprised if the University of Florida flap over faculty testifying as experts in litigation leads to bills that would restrict faculty from engaging in outside consulting or put new rules in place for their teaching workloads.
• Expect the introduction of more “anti-trans” bills that would, among other prohibitions, restrict transgender students’ access to intercollegiate or intramural sports or to gender-affirming medical care. The record number of anti-trans bills considered by state legislatures in 2021 will probably be eclipsed.
• Look for more so-called “intellectual diversity” proposals modeled after Florida’s SB 264, which requires public colleges and universities to survey members of their community about their political beliefs. Motivated largely by overwrought concerns that universities have become liberal bastions where students are indoctrinated by leftist professors, these bills open the door to all kinds of mischief and abuse.