A growing share of Texas professors say they want out of the state this year, and they're not shy about naming the reason: Texas's political climate and fears of censorship in the classroom. About one-third of Texas respondents to a new faculty survey had applied for out-of-state jobs in the past two years, and roughly 35% now plan to apply in the next hiring cycle — a jump from the quarter who said the same last year.
A Survey That Tracks a Widening Exodus
The findings come from an annual survey conducted by the American Association of University Professors, as reported by The Dallas Morning News. Texas drew 1,023 respondents this year, down from 1,126 last year, within a broader pool of 2,763 total respondents across the survey's participating states — a drop from the 3,926 who answered in 2025. Fewer Texas professors are also willing to recommend the state to colleagues: only about 30% said they'd encourage graduate students or fellow faculty to seek jobs in Texas, down from roughly 40% who said so last year, per the same report.
The survey itself, known as the 2026 Faculty in the South Survey, is administered by the Georgia AAUP chapter and has run since 2022. This year it went out to more than 85,000 public email addresses across 13 Southern states — Oklahoma was added for the first time — and stayed open through August, according to Academe Blog. Tenured professors made up 58.6% of overall respondents. Matthew Boedy, president of the Georgia AAUP chapter, oversees the survey and told the Dallas Morning News that “Texas is at the center of a lot of attacks.”
Legislation Reshaping What Gets Taught
The unrest traces back to a state law that gave governor-appointed regents more oversight over Texas public universities, including direct control over course offerings, the Dallas Morning News reports. That law is Texas Senate Bill 37, enacted in June 2025 and effective September 1, 2025, which granted university governing boards expanded authority over general education curriculum reviews while restricting faculty senates to advisory roles, according to LegiScan. One-third of Texas respondents said administrators had questioned or changed their syllabuses or curriculum choices in the last year.
The law's effects are already visible on campuses. In September, the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents voted to remove more than 250 general education courses across 11 system universities, including classes in women and gender studies, climate change, and Black and Latino history, as reported by The Texas Tribune. The University of Houston made similar cuts a month earlier, when its Board of Regents approved a reduced core curriculum list in August 2026 that omitted 133 courses, shrinking general education options from 280 to 147 classes, according to Community Impact. Hoodline previously reported on faculty and AAUP objections in its UH core class purge coverage.
DEI Bans and Tenure Changes Compound the Pressure
Texas professors also cited concerns about academic freedom, shared governance, and DEI issues as driving forces behind the desire to leave, the Dallas Morning News reports. Texas Senate Bill 17, which took effect January 1, 2024, prohibited public colleges and universities from maintaining diversity, equity, and inclusion offices, employing DEI staff, or requiring diversity statements and mandatory trainings, per guidance published by the University of Texas System. Texas institutions have also restricted how race and gender can be taught, and university systems statewide have cut classes and academic programs tied to those subjects.
Tenure itself has shifted too. Texas Senate Bill 18, effective September 1, 2023, established a statutory definition of academic tenure in state law while mandating standardized post-tenure evaluation policies and summary dismissal procedures, according to the University of Texas at Austin AAUP chapter. Some professors and Democrats have warned that the combined reforms could cause a brain drain from Texas, while supporters of the changes argue that addressing perceived ideological bias and aligning universities with workforce needs will ultimately attract more professors, students, and jobs to the state.
National Scrutiny and a Chancellor's Tally
The tension has drawn national attention. In June, the national AAUP launched a formal Committee of Inquiry into systemic academic freedom and shared governance violations at Texas public universities, with particular focus on public historically Black colleges and universities, according to the American Association of University Professors. Meanwhile, during a July 2026 Texas Senate Higher Education Committee hearing, Texas Tech University System Chancellor Brandon Creighton reported reviewing more than 14,000 courses to comply with SB 37, as student and faculty advocates demonstrated outside the Capitol against classroom censorship, per The Daily Texan. Texas Tech, whose system includes the University of North Texas in Denton, has also reported record-high faculty interest, according to the Dallas Morning News.
For those weighing an exit, the survey data points to familiar destinations. California was the top choice for Texas professors seeking employment out of state, followed by New York and Colorado, according to Texas AAUP-AFT. The debate over academic freedom in Texas has also played out in court, including a federal jury verdict won by a UT Arlington professor over retaliation claims, detailed in Hoodline's report on the verdict.
.jpg){kind=link}