Legislation that would allow tenured professors in the state's public universities to be terminated, with the exception of the University of Alabama (UA) and Auburn University and their systems, passed the Alabama House of Representatives on Tuesday.
House Bill 580 (HB580), sponsored by State Rep. Troy Stubbs (R-Wetumpka), would require a university that establishes a faculty senate to develop policies regarding the membership and responsibilities for the body. A faculty senate would only serve an advisory role, negating any "final decision-making authority on any matter of representing institutional positions." It would also require polices that would include periodic post-tenure reviews and authorize the removal of tenured professors after due process.
The bill defines a faculty senate as "any representative faculty organization at a public institution of higher education." All previously formed faculty senates would be abolished by October 1, unless the body was established in line with HB580's provisions or is changed to do so and ratified by a university's governing board. The bill also prohibits accrediting agencies from taking adverse action against a public university for enacting the policies.
The bill passed the House with a vote of 82-18. It now goes to the Senate for committee deliberation.
According to Stubbs, there is currently no standardized process for forming faculty senates.
The debate on the bill seemed split along party lines, with some Republicans expressing support while multiple Democrats took to the podium to rail against its perceived overreach.
State Rep. Danny Garrett (R-Trussville) said the bill was "needed" to adequately place power in universities where it belongs.
"[I]t appropriately shifts authority upwards, away from faculty senates towards boards of trustees and university leadership," Garrett said. "This is entirely appropriate because those are the institutions and individuals who are ultimately held accountable when problems arise."
Democratic lawmakers claimed the bill was targeting university diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies without ostensibly naming it in the bill. Stubbs contended that DEI was not referenced in the bill, and no specific DEI-related policies were mandated in its provisions.
The bill was amended from its initial form to remove provisions that Stubbs says stakeholders described as "cumbersome." It also clarified that constitutionally created schools, such as UA and Auburn University, and their systems would not be impeded in carrying out their authority.
The University of Alabama System is Alabama's largest higher education enterprise and largest public employer, comprised of the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and the UAB Health System. Auburn's systems include Auburn University in Montgomery (AUM).
That was honed in on by State Rep. Chris England (D-Tuscaloosa), who questioned how UA and Auburn would be affected since a legislative change would require a constitutional amendment.
According to Stubbs, the section addressing UA and Auburn means they could not be compelled to implement the bill's provisions.
"They're very aware of this bill, and they understand the concepts, and I think that they will find that elements of this bill are very needed and beneficial to their institutions along with the other four-year institutions in our state," Stubbs said. "But we can't compel them to do anything."
Stubbs also stated that the legislature appropriates funds to those two colleges, suggesting that the state's budgetary discretion can serve as a de facto inducement to comply.
State Rep. Neil Refferty (D-Birmingham) questioned the circumstances in which a tenured professor could be terminated under the bill's provisions, calling the legislation "further political overreach and control into the matters of academia."
"What if you have a professor that's attacking the state policy or the DEI policy for whatever reason that might be?" Rafferty asked.
"If the institution has in their policy that that is a terminable offense, then the institution will be able to exercise their right if it's in their policy, but we're not telling them to do that," Stubbs replied.
He continued, "Nothing in here references their speech or what they're talking about or any of those things. So, if it's not referenced in the bill, then it's not applicable."
Despite Democratic pushback, the bill passed handily, 82-18, with 5 abstentions. According to Stubbs, the bill is slated for a Senate committee on Wednesday morning.
After the bill's passage, Stubbs told 1819 News he believed the pushback stemmed from misunderstandings about it.
"I think that the bill simply places the expectation that the governing boards adopt policies," Stubbs said. "We're simply asking an institution that receives millions and sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money to adopt policies related to faculty senates, tenure and curriculum. It's the least we can do to ensure that the people's money is being used properly."
Prior to the UA- and Auburn-specific clarifications in the substituted bill, some UA faculty expressed concern about it, primarily over the risk of losing accreditation.
"We all view it as an egregious, lazy, copy-paste bill in search of a solution to a problem that doesn't exist," Sara McDaniel, a professor of special education and the president of the UA AAUP, told the Crimson White. The bill would bring about "more surveillance, more monitoring, more auditing and more fear," she said.
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