Republican state legislatures across the country are debating significant reforms in state university systems. Some of the reform proposals are fairly modest, but others would substantially transform how higher education work in public universities. In several instances, those bills are now moving toward some resolution, and so a series of posts checking in on where things stand seems in order. I discussed North Dakota and Texas and Ohio in earlier posts.
Next up is Tennessee. The Tennessee state legislature has just passed the "Tennessee Higher Education Freedom of Expression and Transparency Act," and it is now awaiting the governor's signature. The new bill builds on a divisive concepts law that was enacted in 2022. Especially in the aftermath of the "Tennessee Three" expulsion fracas, commentators have pulled out the rhetorical stops in denouncing the new bill.
I know that this will come as a shock, but most of the things you will read on Twitter about this bill are wrong. Some parts of this bill and its 2022 predecessor are not particularly good, or even useful, but the consequences of adopting it have been greatly exaggerated. And some parts of both the new bill and the existing law are actually pretty good.
