Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced on Twitter/X that his administration is “targeting professors” over their personal “ideological differences” and accused them of “pushing leftist ideologies,” which he failed to identify:
Univ. of Texas professor was dismissed from an administrative post overseeing university academic affairs because of ideological differences.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) October 19, 2025
Texas is targeting professors who are more focused on pushing leftist ideologies rather than preparing students to lead our nation.
We…
The Hill notes that teachers do not know what is permissible in Texas schools and are leaving the state:
“We’re losing faculty that are leaving, moving to other states because they’ve lost shared governance, or they’ve lost academic freedom, or they feel intimidated — can’t speak truth to what their knowledge is in their field. Members are joining advocacy groups left and right because they’re afraid. They’re afraid in the classroom,” said Pat Heintzelman, president of the Texas Faculty Association…
“This tweet was bad, but it’s worse because of all the things that have been happening in Texas over the last, frankly, couple of years, but especially even the last few months,” said Lindsie Rank, director of Campus Rights Advocacy for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.
“There have been multiple instances of Texas professors facing pushback for their speech, and so, I think, it’s kind of in some ways helpful that Abbott said out loud the part that usually is quiet,” she added. “It, I guess, reinforces, for me, what we’ve been seeing happening, which is professors on the left being targeted in Texas specifically.”
(Sources: Greg Abbott, The Hill )