\n<\/p>\n
Faculty must sign the memo by Feb. 10, but no one will be punished if they decline to do so.<\/p>\n
JasonDoiy\/iStock\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Faculty members in the University of Houston\u2019s College of Liberal Arts and Social Science were asked to sign a three-page memo pledging not to \u201cindoctrinate\u201d their students, the Houston Chronicle<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n In a November email to faculty, Houston president Renu Khator wrote that the university\u2019s responsibility is to \u201cgive [students] the ability to form their own opinions, not to force a particular one on them. Our guiding principle is to teach them, not to indoctrinate them.\u201d The recent memo, sent by college dean Daniel O\u2019Connor, asks faculty to \u201cdocument compliance\u201d with Khator\u2019s note. It\u2019s a way to ensure all faculty members are compliant with Texas\u2019s Senate Bill 37, O\u2019Conner told associate English professor Mar\u00eda Gonz\u00e1lez in a meeting. The law mandates regular reviews of core undergraduate curriculum but does not address indoctrination or what material can or cannot be taught.<\/p>\n By Feb. 10, faculty must signal their agreement with the following five statements: \u201cA primary purpose of higher education is to enhance critical thinking;\u201d \u201cOur responsibility is to give students the ability to form their own opinions, not to indoctrinate them;\u201d \u201cI understand the definition and attributes of critical thinking;\u201d \u201cI design my courses and course materials to be consistent with the definition and attributes of critical thinking;\u201d and \u201cI use methods of instruction that are intended to enhance students\u2019 critical thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n Faculty immediately pushed back. The University of Houston American Association of University Professors chapter encouraged faculty members to use proposed \u201cconscientious objector\u201d language in response, which states, in part: \u201cThe premise of this assertion is a straw man, and I am concerned that my signing of this letter could serve as some admission of guilt concerning these false accusations. As such, I request that you accept this letter, in which I am asserting that I have never engaged in indoctrination and that I take offense, as a scholar, at such insinuations.\u201d<\/p>\n Gonz\u00e1lez said O\u2019Conner told her that \u201cno punitive actions will be directed at anyone\u201d who doesn\u2019t sign the acknowledgement form, but that he will have to review the syllabi of any faculty member who doesn\u2019t sign the form. Gonz\u00e1lez refused to sign the acknowledgement or even click the link, she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Faculty must sign the memo by Feb. 10, but no one will be punished if they decline to do so. JasonDoiy\/iStock\/Getty Images Faculty members in the University of Houston\u2019s College of Liberal Arts and Social Science were asked to sign a three-page memo pledging not to \u201cindoctrinate\u201d their students, the Houston Chronicle reported. In a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[3350,7026,22907,2225,678],"class_list":{"0":"post-43959","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-faculty","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-indoctrinate","11":"tag-pledge","12":"tag-students"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}