MAGA-aligned Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced today on social media: “Univ. of Texas professor was dismissed from an administrative post overseeing university academic affairs because of ideological differences. Texas is targeting professors who are more focused on pushing leftist ideologies rather than preparing students to lead our nation. We must end indoctrination and return to education fundamentals at all levels of education.”
More than one commenter on X replied questioning the legality of the professor’s dismissal, especially as described in Abbott’s language. One responder asked: “Can you sack someone over an ideological difference?”
Addressing the potential legal pitfalls of that language in a justice system with strong First Amendment speech protections, English professor — and social media influencer — Karen Piper replied: “Wow. The Texas governor is openly saying he is ‘targeting professors’ over ‘ideological differences.’ This is a good quote for this professor’s lawsuit. I had to read it twice for it to sink in.”
Note: According to the American Association of University Professors “the First Amendment safeguards expression on all sorts of topics and in all sorts of settings from regulation by public institutions, including public colleges and universities.”
On those grounds the Professors Association asserts that “speech by professors in the classroom at public institutions is thus often protected under both the First Amendment and the professional concept of academic freedom if the speech is ‘germane to the subject matter.’”
Completely FALSE. This is the @UTAustin website right now! pic.twitter.com/AVv3jOorHG
— Brian Harrison (@brianeharrison) October 19, 2025
On the other side of the ideological divide, Republican Texas State Representative Brian Harrison slammed the Governor for not policing “indoctrination” strongly enough.
Harrison replied to Abbott: “Completely FALSE. This is the @UTAustin website right now!” and added a screenshot of the LGBTQ Studies page on the UT at Austin website, see below.
In September, Harrison — a major DEI opponent — shared a video of a Texas A&M student confronting a professor about teaching issues related to gender identity in a class on children’s literature. Abbott subsequently called for the termination of the professor who was eventually fired for teaching content “that did not align with any reasonable expectation of the standard curriculum.” Shortly afterward, Texas A&M University President Mark Welsh resigned.