A controversial Alabama law targeting institutions of higher education passed the state House Tuesday and was sent to the Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee.
Sponsored by Republican Rep. Troy Stubbs of House District 31, HB580 seeks to vest more power in governing boards, such as boards of trustees, over faculty tenure, curriculum, and faculty senates in public four-year institutions.
On the House floor Tuesday, Stubbs cast his bill as a way to increase transparency and accountability in higher education in the state, though he previously told The Crimson White had no specific issues with a lack of transparency in the state’s schools.
“My reading of the bill is that it appropriately shifts authority upward away from faculty senates towards boards of trustees [and] university leadership,” said Republican Rep. Danny Garrett of House District 44.
HB580’s requirements for faculty tenure would address the perception that tenure provides “insulation” that allows positions to be used as “personal platforms” while preserving due process rights and free speech, Garrett added.
The version of the bill that passed Tuesday was different from the one Stubbs originally introduced. Many of the major changes focused on the parts of the bill regarding faculty senates.
Stubbs said Tuesday that The University of Alabama and Auburn University cannot be compelled to follow the bill, because the Alabama constitution places them under the control of their boards of trustees. He said he thought The University of Alabama and Auburn University would find the provisions of the bill “very needed and beneficial.”
HB580 has received significant criticism from faculty members at the University. They say it threatens academic freedom, accreditation of programs, faculty recruitment, and faculty members’ ability to participate in shared governance with university administrators, among other concerns.
The UA chapter of the American Association of University Professors said in a statement that it had “significant concerns” with the bill.
The organization said it feared that schools’ state funding could be jeopardized for noncompliance with the bill, even though the Alabama constitution places governance of the University under the UA System Board of Trustees. After conceding that the University couldn’t be compelled to follow his bill, Stubbs noted that the legislature appropriates funding to the University.
“Thus, we believe that HB580 if enacted, will seriously damage The University of Alabama and higher education across the state,” the UA AAUP said.
HB580 requires that faculty senates have only an advisory role and not be given the final say on any matter. The UA Faculty Senate already operates as an advisory body.
Under the bill, at least one Senator from each college or school would be appointed by a university’s president. Previously, the bill provided that these appointees would be limited to six one-year terms.
The new bill strips the term limits from appointed senators and adds that faculty senate leadership would also be appointed by the president unless governing boards decide otherwise. Under the new bill, governing boards could also allow non-faculty members to be appointed. It also no longer requires that elected faculty senators serve staggered two-year terms.
Previously, the bill gave university presidents the ability to remove faculty senators for misconduct or at the recommendation of the provost, though HB580 was amended to state that governing boards can decide whether to give presidents this power. The amendment additionally removed a requirement that service on the senate be an additional duty of a faculty member’s job.
Remaining in the bill were provisions requiring governing boards to approve all courses required to obtain a degree at higher education institutions and giving boards control over course content. The new version also gives boards the option to delegate course approval to a university administrator.
Like the previous version, the bill requires governing boards to draft policies regarding the granting of tenure and dismissal of tenured faculty. It would require tenured faculty to undergo post-tenure review at least once every six years on a timeline set by the board.
The UA AAUP said in a statement that it welcomed a change to this section of the bill, which originally said tenured faculty could be dismissed for acts of “moral turpitude.” That phrasing, which the UA AAUP argued was too vague and could subject faculty to “arbitrary political power,” was removed.
Still, remaining language allowing tenured faculty to be dismissed based on “professional incompetence,” would have much the same effect, the organization said.
“In a political climate where subjective judgment of “competency” is casually employed to attack individuals of differing political beliefs or who exercise their first amendment rights to free speech outside the classroom, this language appears poised to weaponize post-tenure review for issues of personal belief and speech, rather than clear standards for competence and professionalism,” the organization said.
Stubbs said Tuesday that his bill has “nothing to do” with diversity, equity and inclusion policies in higher education. DEI is not mentioned in his bill.
Democrat Rep. Neil Rafferty of House District 54 asked Stubbs whether faculty could still be terminated for speaking out against “state policy” or “DEI policy.”
“I guess if the institution has in their policy that that is a terminable offense, then the institution would be able to exercise their right,” Stubbs responded, adding that his bill would not require universities to have such a policy.
Another major concern for faculty members is the bill’s clarification that accreditation standards could not be used to violate the law and that accrediting bodies can’t take adverse action against institutions for following the law. This requirement remained untouched in the new version of the bill.
“Given that nearly half of UA’s student body hails from out of state and require transferable degrees and credentials, the legislative overreach here comes at the peril of the state’s reputation, economy, and academic prestige,” UA AAUP said.
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