Patrick Celebrates SB 37, Takes Swipe at UT Austin

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (R) celebrated the passage of Senate Bill 37 (SB 37) on social media. The bill seeks to address the influence of faculty senates at public universities, targeting the University of Texas at Austin over its stance on teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT).

“In 2021, the faculty senate at the University of Texas at Austin arrogantly stated that they were not accountable to the Texas Legislature or UT Board of Regents,” Lt. Governor Patrick wrote on X. “They passed a resolution stating they were going to teach Critical Race Theory to UT students no matter what the legislature or taxpayers thought.”

The lieutenant governor’s post references a dispute between state lawmakers and university faculty over academic freedom and ideological content in classrooms. In response to UT’s resolution in 2021, Lt. Governor Patrick vowed to take action, writing, “I will not stand by and let looney Marxist UT professors poison the minds of young students with Critical Race Theory. We banned it in publicly funded K-12 and we would ban it in publicly funded higher ed.”

Now that Senate Bill 37 has passed, the bill restricts the authority of faculty senates and grants the Legislature increased oversight over public universities’ academic governance.

“Tonight, with final passage of Senate Bill 37, the faculty senate at the University of Texas at Austin had their power stripped and found out the Legislature does have authority over faculty senates after all!” Lt. Governor Patrick declared on social media.

He ended his statement with a sharp rebuke of progressive educators, expressing that “These looney Marxist UT professors should find a friendly blue state to move to so we can fill their roles with quality conservative professors who will teach critical thinking. Yippie Ki Yay! Adios! Sayonara! Auf Wiedersehen! Au Revoir! Goodbye!”

Republicans have targeted schools over their alleged teaching of CRT, and the effort has sparked intense debate over academic freedom. Critics warn of government overreach, but supporters praise the Legislature for reasserting control over public education.