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A finance professor at the University of Texas at Austin went viral this week after voicing his opposition to a school resolution to “defend academic freedom” by allowing the promotion of critical race theory in classrooms.
In a video that has been viewed over 10,000 times, Associate Professor of Finance Dr. Richard Lowery spoke out against a resolution by the faculty council at UT Austin affirming the “fundamental rights” of professors to push critical race theory in classrooms.
University of Texas Austin campus at sunset-dusk – aerial view
“Me opposing the UT-Austin Faculty Council resolution in support of teaching of Critical Race Theory and Critical Gender Justice or whatever, both at the university level and in K-12,” Lowery posted along with a clip of his comments from the meeting where the resolution passed by a margin of 41-5. “The resolution opposes any democratic oversight of curriculum set by gvt bureaucrats.”
Lowery, who has been at the university since 2009, argues in the clip that promoting critical race theory is antithetical to academic freedom, and a resolution that truly intended to support academic freedom would not have specifically included politically charged “race and gender theory.”
“If you wanted to be neutral we could just put in the Chicago Principles and the Calvin Report and it would be a neutral statement in favor of academic freedom,” Lowery said. “This is entirely one-sided and you’re promoting the idea that academic freedom is the collective right of the faculty to decide which ideas are allowed on campus, not the individual right of faculty to express their own ideas. That is not what academic freedom means.”
Austin TX cityscape. Skyscrapers and Congress Avenue.
(iStock)
Lowery also accused the school of “stunning” hypocrisy for implementing a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policy that applies a “political test” for new hires and promotions regarding their adherence to critical race theory while at the same time is “complaining” about attacks on academic freedom from those who oppose the controversial theory.
Lowery told Fox News that critical race theory, which promotes the idea that the United States is inherently racist, has “no scientific basis.”
“From an academic perspective it basically assumes its conclusion,” Lowery said. “There’s no reason to do research when you’ve already assumed that everything is driven by this one particular thing. They assume everything is driven by racism so you go back and figure out how things are driven by racism and that’s not actual research. It’s not falsifiable. It has no scientific basis.”
Lowery continued, “It’s very destructive to society because the only answer to every question is that we’ve got to pit groups against each other. So, in addition to being nonsense from an academic perspective, it’s damaging to society. It’s not even a philosophy. It’s an activist program that focuses on silencing its opponents and reaches its conclusion before it does any research. It’s not an academic exercise in any meaningful sense.”
The faculty resolution comes partially in response to legislation across the country, including in Texas, to crackdown against the controversial Critical Race Theory curriculum in K-12 and university settings.
Signs opposing Critical Race Theory line the entrance to the Loudoun County School Board headquarters, in Ashburn, Virginia, U.S. June 22, 2021.
(REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
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“State legislative proposals seeking to limit teaching and discussions of racism and related issues have been proposed and enacted in several states, including Texas,” the resolution states. “This resolution affirms the fundamental rights of faculty to academic freedom in its broadest sense, inclusive of research and teaching of race and gender theory.”
Both UT Austin and the Chair of the Faculty Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News
