AAUP@UT

 June 2, 2025 

Dear President Davis: 

We, the members of the Executive Committee of the American Association of University Professors chapter at UT Austin, are writing because we are deeply concerned by your decision to appoint a single finalist for the position of Provost before convening a Consultative Committee. We are speaking for ourselves as private individuals and not representing any group, institution, or organization other than the AAUP Chapter at UT Austin. 

For over a hundred years, the national AAUP has been the foremost proponent of academic freedom, shared governance, and due process in higher education, and our chapter of nearly 300 faculty exists in order to further those values at UT. Although it may be technically allowable, your decision to announce a sole finalist violates the principles of shared governance and the standard policies described in the Handbook of Operating Procedures 2-2110, Consultation in Selection of Key Administrative Officials, which states: 

The University of Texas at Austin endorses the principle of reasonable consultation of faculty, staff and students in the selection of key administrative officials. [italics added] 

The lack of any consultation up to this point cannot be construed as “reasonable consultation,” nor is a “consultative committee” convened to review a single finalist fulfilling the definition laid out in the HOP, which is: 

a committee of specific composition of eligible members that will assist in the hiring process of Key Administrative Officials by recommending nominees for consideration by the decision maker. 

This includes reviewing applications, conducting interviews, assessing qualifications, and other specific tasks as charged by the authority convening the committee. [italics added] 

For there to be a single finalist before a Consultative Committee is convened, and for its role in reviewing and recommending nominees to have been removed, violates the spirit of shared governance. This time-honored principle is enshrined in the Handbook of Operating Procedures, and ensures that faculty and other stakeholders have a role in decision-making–especially decision-making regarding academic matters. 

We understand that the HOP stipulates that the 

use of a Consultative Committee in the selection of Key Administrative Officials is mandatory unless the best interest exception applies or the presidential prerogative is invoked. 

Your notice to the UT community indicates that in your view the passage of S.B. 37 is reason enough to invoke the best interest exception. We disagree. According to the conference committee report approved by the House and Senate, S.B. 37 will not take full effect until January 1, 2026. Furthermore, passage of S.B. 37 is no reason for the President to preemptively depart from the policy of charging the consultative committee to “select at least three qualified nominees from the applicant pool to be submitted to the decision maker for consideration.” S.B. 37 explicitly allows for “appropriate consultation with faculty, administrators and other stakeholders on matters related to academic policy and institutional operations.” By excluding faculty and other university partners from important stages in the hiring of the university’s chief academic officer–something that incontrovertibly has its greatest effect on the faculty–the meaning of consultation with the faculty is undermined. 

In our view, backed by over a century of AAUP statements and decades of precedent at the University of Texas at Austin and other R1 universities, the best interest of the University continues to be for the Chief Academic Officer to be chosen through a nomination process that involves a duly selected Consultative Committee. This allows broad consultation of stakeholders and sets up the new Provost for success. There may well be reason to expedite the process of selection under the current circumstances, but entirely removing the faculty from the nomination process fails to give faculty the meaningful role that it merits in all academic matters. Additionally, this process sets up a very concerning precedent for the future selection of top administrators. 

As dedicated and experienced faculty with many decades of collective experience at UT Austin and other R1 universities, we strongly urge you to work with the Faculty Council–still a legitimate body–to convene a Consultative Committee composed as the HOP stipulates: 

Nine voting members of the General Faculty, six elected by the faculty using the Hare-Clark Preferential Voting System and three, not including administrative officials, appointed by the President; three students appointed by the President from a panel of not less than five nor more than ten selected in a manner to be determined by student government association(s); and such other persons as the President may deem appropriate. No more than two of the elected members of the committee shall be from any one school or college. 

This is a time-tested procedure that helps confer legitimacy on a new administrator, allows for a public discussion about the future of the institution, and affirms the importance of including faculty and other stakeholders in academic hiring decisions. We also strongly urge you to follow this process for future administrative hires as well. 

Thank you for taking the time to consider our views. We would also appreciate the opportunity to meet with you to discuss the larger issue of how UT Austin interprets and implements S.B. 37. Involving faculty will be an important demonstration of your leadership as President and your understanding of the importance of involving faculty and other stakeholders in decision-making about the future of the University we all cherish. 

Sincerely yours, 

Pauline Turner Strong, Professor of Anthropology, College of Liberal Arts; Distinguished Leadership Service Professor 

President, AAUP chapter at UT Austin 

Andrea C. Gore, Professor and Vacek Distinguished University Chair of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy 

Vice President, AAUP chapter at UT Austin 

Lauren Gutterman, Associate Professor and Chair of American Studies 

College of Liberal Arts 

Secretary, AAUP chapter at UT Austin 

Brian Evans, Engineering Foundation Professor 

Cockrell School of Engineering 

Past President, AAUP chapter at UT Austin 

Karma R. Chávez, Bobby and Sherri Patton Professor and Chair of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, College of Liberal Arts 

Executive Committee, AAUP chapter at UT Austin 

Amanda Cochran-McCall, Vice President for Legal Affairs 

Edward Castillo, Faculty Council Chair 

Charlotte Canning, Faculty Council Secretary