1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

I am writing to express my strong opposition to SB 37. As a faculty member at a Texas university (speaking as a private citizen), this bill would prevent the faculty and administrators at our university from making decisions about general education curriculum and programs - decisions tailored to our unique student population and needs. Similarly, we would lose our shared governance and voice in hiring. Faculty work at their universities for often decades, and develop a real understanding and care for the students and the university. We are also subject matter experts. I am still a junior faculty member but I have already spent so many hours on the kinds of work this bill strips away - hiring committee, curriculum evaluation, etc. I am able to contribute to these effectively because I have a deep knowledge of my subject area. I can evaluate a candidate for their knowledge and likelihood to succeed. I can understand why some classes may fill up faster than others, because I teach them and I talk with the students every working day. This bill would erase my ability to contribute to the success of my university using that knowledge. It would destroy the ability of our faculty senates to build trust and speak for the faculty, if many faculty senators are unelected and the remainder only have a single two-year term. Can you imagine doing your job effectively if we appointed half of our senators and the rest could only serve for two years? Can you imagine we would feel represented by such a system? Please oppose this destructive bill. It will hurt the success of our universities, and attack one of the benchmarks of the free university (shares governance). Thank you for your time.