We previously noted a pending Texas bill that would limit and restrict academic senates in state higher ed institutions.* Here is a follow up from Inside Higher Ed: Texas governor Greg Abbott... signed into law legislation allowing public college and university presidents to take over faculty governance bodies. Senate Bill 37 says that only an institution’s governing board can create a faculty council or senate. If a board decides to keep one, the college or university president gets to pick the “presiding officer, associate presiding officer, and secretary” and prescribe how the body conducts meetings. Unless the institution’s board decides otherwise, faculty governing bodies must shrink to no more than 60 members. The Texas A&M University Faculty Senate currently has 122.
The 60 members must include at least two representatives from each of the colleges and schools that comprise the institution—including what the law describes vaguely as “one member appointed by the president or chief executive officer of the institution,” with the rest elected by the faculty of the particular school or college. This could mean that half of a faculty senate would be chosen by the president, barring an exemption by the institution’s board...
Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/06/24/texas-passes-law-presidents-control-faculty-senates.
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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/06/straws-in-wind-part-13.html.
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