Texas Blazes the Transparency Trail

Candace de Russy

Texan professors who thrive on taxpayer funding are irate about a state law that requires them to make course content clear to students before the latter are, as Accuracy in Academia labels it, "trapped" in the classroom.

To whom do we owe this salutary development? One, to University of Texas (Austin) junior Taurie Randermann, who lamented to her boss that her course titled "Communication and Religion" was actually about trendy cults such as Wiccans and Heaven’s Gate; and, two, to her boss, Texas Republican State Representative Lois Kolkhorst, who put forth a bill requiring public, online access to course information.

The state chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), among other status quo academic groups, has protested this new law. As AIA notes, "They usually like to exercise their academic freedom behind closed doors where they can deny everyone else’s."

Kudos to Randermann and Kolkhorst, and may Texas' victory for transparency a trend make.

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