‘LEFTIST INDOCTRINATION’: Texas lawmaker promises to cut off taxpayer dollars from schools promoting woke programs
‘Public universities are for education not leftist indoctrination. If you want to study [lesbian, gay and bisexual] studies, fine, but do it with your own money,’ Harrison wrote.
Harrison promised to introduce a bill to ‘zero out the budget of all public university presidents who don’t get rid of these minors and courses on their campuses.’
A legislator in the Texas state legislature has promised to take measures against schools that offer programs promoting “leftist indoctrination.”
Republican State Rep. Brian Harrison targeted Texas’s “Promise Plus” program, which grants certain students exemptions from paying tuition when they attend any of the University of Texas’s campuses, The Christian Post reported.
Harrison and his colleagues in the legislature wrote a letter on Nov. 21 to the University of Texas leadership that he shared on X. The legislators stated they were “extremely troubled” by the University of Texas’s decision to broaden eligibility for the Promise Plus program by accepting applicants “whose families earn up to $100,000.”
The letter asked if the expansion “will apply to students who are enrolled in the ‘LGBTQ/Sexualities Studies’ Minor,” and if it will force “a working class Texan, who did not attend a college or university and is making $45k/year,” to “ [subsidize] the child of a parent who makes $100k/year?”
In his X statement, Harrison wrote that “nothing is free,” and called the expansion an “outrageous abuse of power.” He continued, calling on the Texas legislature to “stop this Nancy Pelosi-esque, regressive, welfare-for-the-rich program that abuses working class Texans by forcing them to fund ‘free’ college for ‘LGBTQ Studies’ students.”
Harrison told The Christian Post: “I am sick of my constituents’ tax dollars being weaponized against them, their values, and their children. . . . Public universities are for education not leftist indoctrination. If you want to study [lesbian, gay and bisexual] studies, fine, but do it with your own money.”
He also told the Post he is planning to introduce a bill to “zero out the budget of all public university presidents who don’t get rid of these minors and courses on their campuses.”
A spokesperson from Harrison’s office provided Campus Reform with the following statement: “Texas has a reputation for leading in individual liberty, freedom, and limited government. But for too long we have been coasting on that reputation instead of living up to it. Leftists have been put in charge of our public universities and the inmates are now running the asylum and abusing tax dollars to push liberal propaganda instead of educating the next generation. I’ve had it and will be demanding accountability and budget cuts to force change.”
The spokesperson also shared an update from Harrison posted to his X, in which he wrote: “Breaking: University of Texas responded to me, and it appears they will offer ‘free’ college to ILLEGAL ALIENS who make up to $100k/year, including for ‘LGBTQ Studies’ students. @UTsystem also confirmed they will ask for MORE TAX MONEY next session. Hell no.” The Texas legislator attached the university’s response to his post.
Harrison previously attacked Texas A&M University for offering an “LGBTQ Studies” minor despite the school’s Board of Regents giving it a direct order to stop.
Donna Howard, a Democratic state representative in Texas’s legislature, alleged that “[t]here are no tax dollars involved” in the expansion to Promise Plus, the Post reported.
Campus Reform has reached out to Brian Harrison and the University of Texas System for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
