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800-2,500 words

An Appeal for Academic Integrity, Transparency, and Equity in Education

We, a coalition of students, staff, faculty, and alumni at The University of Texas at Austin, amplify the discontent of communities across the United States. We are tired of the senseless elimination of educational opportunities under the guise of neutrality, the increasing implementation of gag rules that demolish systems of shared governance, and most alarmingly—the increasingly aggressive attacks on those who refuse to ignore such injustice. The University of Texas’s suspension of Daniel Ramírez, an undergraduate student, for seeking a meeting with administrators who appear to lack transparency outside of vague mass emails, is troubling. Why should a student be suspended for walking into a university building to request a meeting, and the campus not be in an uproar at such injustice? How is it unclear that the students, faculty, staff, programs, and departments continuing to speak out for universal civil rights for students despite severe political suppression is the only thing mitigating the harm of the administration’s sadistic agenda?

Our grievances extend far beyond the recent decision to eliminate:

The School of Information^[1] 

Department of:

African and African Diaspora Studies^[2] 

Mexican American and Latina/o Studies

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

American Studies

Slavic and Eurasian Studies

French and Italian Studies

Germanic Studies

Which is a only a continuation of the destruction of the:

Division of Campus and Community Engagement^[3]

Office of Community Engagement

Office of Undergraduate Research^[4]

Center for Teaching and Learning^[5]

Vick Advising Excellence Center

Gender and Sexuality Center

Multicultural Engagement Center^[6]

Fearless Leadership Institute

Monarch

As seen above, there is an undeniable bias against organizations, institutions, groups, and individuals that are committed to education that extends beyond the narrowness of white supremacy, foster inclusion, and most frighteningly to these crusaders—commonsense. The frivolous nature of the decisions being made by The Board of Regents, President Jim Davis, and Provost/Vice President William Inboden is draining the resources, esteem, and credibility once held by the University of Texas at Austin. Think tanks and similar sites posing as legitimate spaces of academic inquiry, such as The School of Civic Leadership and The Civitas Institute, are parasitic and incompatible with the function of the university. It is common, if not custom, for donations to be made to colleges and universities for the establishment of new programs, departments, institutes, and schools by foundations. What is unprecedented is the establishment of the same program by many leading research institutions within such a brief span of time. A major cause for concern is the undemocratic manner in which entire institutions are being restructured around civic/classical studies programs funded by billionaires or the state.

 Examples include:

• Arizona State University - The School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - The School for Civic Life and Leadership  
• James Madison University - James Madison’s Center for Civic Engagement
• University of Tennessee at Knoxville - Institute of American Civics
• University of Tennessee at Knoxville - Tocqueville Scholars
• University of Texas at Austin - School of Civic Leadership
• University of Austin
• New York University - The Berkley Institute for Civil Discourse and Civic Solutions
• University of South Carolina - The Center for American Civic Leadership and Public Discourse
• Yale University - Center for Civic Thought

The recent endorsement by Inboden of The Manhattan Institute, another think tank, for ranking The University of Texas second using a biased metric system is fostering extremism and is as trustworthy as the Canary Mission, proving intensifying corruption within the United States Higher Education system. It is deplorable yet unsurprising, given Inboden’s work establishing The Alexander Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida, that he would use his position as Vice President and Provost at the second wealthiest educational institution in the world to lend credibility to a pseudo-empirical college ranking system and School of Civic Leadership that would otherwise lack validity. The bad press resulting from our administration’s poor management is tarnishing the work of students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

This report is an attempt to challenge the powers that be, by exposing how think tanks and foundations have obstructed democracy through their control over educational institutions, policy, research, and media, with specific relevance to The University of Texas. The Manhattan Institute (formerly the International Center for Economic Policy Studies) and similar entities continue to undo decades’ worth of civil rights progress in the U.S. and globally—these institutions and their partners are the largest threats to academic freedom. For those who are waiting for judicial systems to intervene on our behalf, let us remind you that The United Nations, wrote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) intentionally to differentiate between populations worthy of industrial instruction versus higher education intentionally for socioeconomic stratification.

1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary                 education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher                 education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.^[7]

 2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for         human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

 3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

The structure of higher education access in the United States has always been unfairly built upon the idea of individual "merit," excluding many from shaping society, culture, and economies, which have been historically white and patriarchal. This seemingly objective system is a form of state-sanctioned violence.  Notably, the committee that drafted The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was led by Eleanor Roosevelt, then First Lady of the United States, the contradiction in The U.S., a country whose unwillingness to confront their role in the exploitation, dispossession, and genocide of Indigenous, Black Americans, and oppressed Peoples, establishing a set of universal “human rights” specifically as it relates to education during Jim Crow cannot be overstated, nor overlooked, given public education was and continues to be vastly inequitable for most of the country. The Principles of the Universal Negro Improvement Association^[8] established a more advanced approach to human rights.

Whereas, The Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World (1920) states plainly:

We protest against the system of education in any country where Negroes are denied the same privileges and advantages as other races. We demand the right of an unlimited and unprejudiced education for ourselves and our posterity forever.

Antony Fisher: The Father of Modern Think Tanks and The Reason The Economy Sucks!

Antony Fisher, a failed businessman, used his wealth to create multiple “think tanks” to evade “government regulations” following environmentalists and politicians shutting down his unethical butcher business, which relied on slaughtering endangered sea turtles. In 1954, Fisher was appointed to The Mont Pelerin Society, a convening of mostly economists, except for a few historians and philosophers, post World War II to “preserve” the values of Western civilization, which they felt was in peril which eerily replicated the white nationalist pseudo-historical “Lost Cause of the Confederacy” narrative adopted in the United States post-Civil War. Classical Studies rely on the already debunked Lost Cause Narrative^[9], which historically has and continues to use formal education to convince the public that the Confederacy were heroes battling for “state rights,” “liberties,” and their “nation”. The erasure of Indigenous land dispossession and enslavement of and resource extraction that has shaped the lives of Peoples of African descent across the globe overlooks the violent suppression and elimination of their cultures, knowledge systems, traditions, communities, and humanity, all stolen under the guise of Western prosperity.

Mises founded the Mont Perlin Society alongside Karl Popper^[10], Frank H. Knight, Milton Friedman, and George Stigler. Currently headquartered at Texas Tech University within the The Free Market Institute (FMI). Shortly after the establishment of The Mont Perlin Society , Fisher co-founded The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) with the notorious illegal British broadcaster Oliver Smedley in 1955. The IEA completely upended the post-World War II consensus in The United Kingdom, in which the labour and conservative parties had settled upon transforming the nation through nationalizing major industries such as coal, electricity, railway, and gas companies, establishing universal healthcare, and educational opportunities (regardless of their socioeconomic background).  Fisher’s creation of the IEA provided institutional backing for the elite’s sadistic ideas about wealth hoarding and exploitation to be used as legal, economic, educational, and institutional frameworks. Former Member of British Parliament Oliver Letwin plainly stated, “without Fisher, no IEA; without the IEA and its clones, no Thatcher and quite possibly no Reagan; without Reagan, no Star Wars; without Star Wars, no economic collapse of the Soviet Union.” 

The Atlas Network^[11], comprising 589 think tanks across 103 nations, facilitates corporate bribery of researchers and policymakers to manipulate research for industrial benefit. The State Policy Network (SPN) is an umbrella for U.S. based think-tanks.^[12] Through their work,  these institutions are attempting to depoliticize the inherently political nature of socioeconomic decisions impacting and funded by the general public. Economic systems and concepts such as free markets and privatization are impossible to depoliticize or detach from the interests (of the billionaires, foundations, and corporations funding the operations) they in fact serve. To pretend to do so is immoral and to present these harmful ideas as irrefutable truths^[13] is dangerous to all of humankind.

Classical Studies programs, funded by think tanks, state governments, and foundations, are expanding to include neocolonial projects such as Israel and Artificial Intelligence as an extension of Western civilization because the elite expands and restricts the definition of whiteness^[14] dependent upon the social, political, and economic demands of the crumbling Empire. The study of Western civilization is not about the study of culture, knowledge, or traditions, but a fight for intellectual authority and power in academia, but more importantly over the ambitions and imagination of the masses. It is both disheartening and predictable that university administrators are choosing not to perform their duties, a situation exacerbated by their unwillingness to work across differences. The following demands speak to the urgency of communities to fight harder than ever to transform the foundation of education by building solidarity across all figurative and literal borders meant to divide us within and outside of academia.

1. Democratic Leadership and Accountability to Campus Communities

We demand transparent, representative, and non-partisan leadership processes—such as open campaigning, student voting, and public accountability measures—for all positions and committees that impact students directly.

2. Shared Governance

Students must have the ability to vote on or provide binding input regarding major university policies that shape campus life, governance, and the academic experience.

Preservation and Continued Investment in:

3. Critical Race, Cultural, and Ethnic Studies

We reject any effort to merge AADS,  MALS, Asian American Studies, and Native American and Indigenous Studies, and American Studies, as each are distinct disciplines. Attempts to situate these communities’ histories as oppositional to U.S. History undermine interdisciplinary learning and further suppress marginalized communities within higher education. The critical thinking skills provided by ethnic studies courses at UT better prepare us to not only enter the workforce but to be civically engaged leaders with a deeper understanding of diverse perspectives.

4. Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS)
   We reject recent attempts to consolidate, diminish, or dissolve WGSS both as an academic unit and a critical perspective. Recent attacks on higher education institutions in Texas and across the nation have relied on hysteria over gender representation and transgender people. As a department, WGSS is an invaluable center for interdisciplinary scholarship across UT departments and beyond. All censorship of scholarship that critically examines the role of women, gender, and sexuality is detrimental to everyone.

We demand

5. Academic Freedom Not Be Used To Justify Human Rights Violations

We demand an end to restrictions that limit teaching, research, or programming related to race, sex, gender, and identity. The university must reaffirm its commitment to free inquiry and critical scholarship. The university should use resources at its disposal, like the Civil Rights Clinic in the Law School, to review important legislation related to the university issues like academic freedom, and use those findings to navigate legislation now and in the future to avoid overcompliance.

6. Overdue Answers Regarding Degree Trajectory.

Students demand a meeting with the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, the University Administration, and The UT Board of Regents to discuss the elimination of Ethnic and Women’s & Gender Studies. Students must be informed, consulted, and informed of these deliberations as it directly impacts our community.

7. Reintroduction and Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

The University and the Board of Regents must publicly advocate for and reinstate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives that support UT’s diverse student body. UT should actively protect these programs from future legislative attacks rather than fuel their dismantling. Programs, centers, and systems defunded or dissolved from overcompliance with SB 17, including but not limited to the Gender and Sexuality Center and the Multicultural Engagement Center, we demand that they are immediately reinstated, along with the proper resources allocated for their typical functioning.

8. Regular meetings with Key Stakeholders.

Establish standing meetings between UT administration, the Board of Regents, and student leaders to ensure consistent communication, accountability, and collaboration on campus equity issues.

9. Representation and Transparency on the Core Curriculum Task Force.

At least one faculty member from the various ethnic and identity studies departments must be appointed to the Core Curriculum Task Force to ensure accurate representation of diverse academic disciplines. Additionally, all meetings should be open to the public.

10. Representation of Staff and Graduate Students via Reinstatement of Faculty Councils and Graduate Assembly
    We oppose UT Austin’s decision to dissolve Faculty Council and Graduate Assembly because they are critical spaces for faculty and elected leaders of the Graduate Student Assembly to provide input and to hold university leadership accountable. As demonstrated by neighboring institutions, SB 37 does not prevent the reestablishment of Faculty Council or Graduate Assembly. Given our continued investment in accountability and transparency, we demand UT Austin reinstate Faculty Council and Graduate Assembly.

It would have been too easy to blame the current administration for the current swing of universities to the far-right. As you have read, this is the colonial foundation public education was built upon. Decolonization of education necessitates we have an equal commitment to dismantling and transforming our relationship to these institutions as we have been in preserving white supremacy through our complacency, silence, and denial in naming its haunting.

Signed,

The Anna Julia Cooper Center for Civic Leadership at The University of Texas

Austin Chapter of Students for a Democratic Society

University of Texas Graduate Workers Union

Historically Black Colleges and Universities for Liberation

Blurb

Our coalition of students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community members have written The Southern Student’s Manifesto For Academic Freedom. This is our response to the recent elimination, framed as “consolidation”, of ethnic and women’s studies departments at the University of Texas at Austin. These departments include African and African Diaspora Studies, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies, Department of French and Italian Studies, Department of American Studies, and Department of Germanic Studies, all being “consolidated” into the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis and the Department of European and Eurasian Studies. The School of Information and School of Computer Science are also being “consolidated” into the School of Informatics.  The manifesto argues that reconstituting these departments is not an impartial austerity effort, but a continued implementation of the university leadership’s right-wing political agenda. University President Jim Davis, Provost William Inboden, and their allies are blatantly favoring an education that idealizes Western Civilization, exalts free-market economics, and promotes white supremacy both financially and morally.

The manifesto takes its name from the 1956 Declaration of Constitutional Principles, an opposition to segregation by southern congressmen. It is inspired by the Appeal for Human Rights, published in 1960.

We are asking any organizations and individuals, inside and outside of the university, to support the Student’s Manifesto for Academic Freedom by signing on to our statement. If you would like to endorse our call to action to save UT Austin, and in turn, other schools across the nation from departmental elimination, please respond. We will add your respective name to the document before we release it to the public. Your signing on would have an insurmountable impact to show the university the support we have from the community.

Thank you for your support and solidarity. Please let us know if you have any questions. We would be happy to discuss this with you.

Please add/change anything that would better represent the Manifesto

-Cal