Stockard on the Stump: Sexton Defends College Anti-Diversity Bill

By Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout

February 18, 2022

House Speaker Cameron Sexton is basing support of a higher education anti-diversity bill, in part, on a move by the University of Memphis to pay instructors stipends to teach “diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice.”

The university reportedly offered its teachers $3,000 to restructure their courses as part of its “Eradicating Systemic Racism and Promoting Social Justice Initiative.”

Considering the university is situated in a city with a majority Black population and where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, it’s not surprising to see the university trying to get rid of systemic racism.

But Sexton and the Republican-controlled Legislature don’t like that idea. “Critical social justice” in Tennessee’s universities is too “woke,” according to a report by conservative think tanks floating around the Legislature and influencing the outlook.

Asked Thursday about HB2670, which he is sponsoring, and whether there are examples of students or staff facing “adverse action” for refusing to be indoctrinated at state universities, Sexton says, “Sam, I love it when you always want examples of everything when things happen all across America, when you saw what happened in Memphis not too long ago when they were paying teachers to teach certain things to students, which made news. It comes up to our place, right? Part of our job is not to be reactive all the time. I know a lot of people want us to be reactive, but we’re also supposed to be proactive, and that’s good government.”

Sexton says his office is working with universities and legislators to pass a bill that protects students and gives universities the ability to investigate potential incidents of indoctrination. Universities will be required to report incidents of “indoctrination” to the Legislature as part of the bill.

Lt. Gov. Randy McNally supports the legislation, even though he’s not fired up about it.

“We want to make sure that students are taught the subjects they sign up for and not taught certain political philosophies or different types of things,” McNally says.

The wording in the bill, though, is hauntingly familiar. In fact, portions mirror the “critical race theory” measure that passed in 2021 prohibiting K-12 schools from teaching students that any race or gender should feel bad about oppressing another race or gender. No school system in the state will own up to teaching such “divisive” things, even if it has been going on in this land for more than 400 years.

Under this higher ed bill, any university student or employee who feels their right to an education devoid of America’s troubled racial history is violated “may pursue all equitable or legal remedies that may be available to the individual in a court of competent jurisdiction.” After all, that holds the potential for blaming white folks for repressing, segregating and lynching Black folks.

But as Sexton says, “Why can’t we see what’s going on in other states and other places and what was going on at the University of Memphis and be a little proactive sometimes?”
Democrats, of course, object to the legislation.

The Legislature doesn't need to get into the business of protecting the feelings of professors and undergraduates from ideas that make them feel uncomfortable.

– Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville

Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro of Nashville points out the word “snowflake” is tossed around quite a bit at the Capitol but is usually directed at Democrats who object to coarse language and mistreatment of people. In this case, the shoe seems to be on the other foot.

“The Legislature doesn’t need to get into the business of protecting the feelings of professors and undergraduates from ideas that make them feel uncomfortable,” Yarbro says.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Vincent Dixie takes it a step further, saying, “You cannot sit here and whitewash it because you don’t like that particular part,” says Dixie, who says he is worn out from teaching his children Black history, which didn’t start with slavery.

Dixie is “really tired” of “critical race theory,” a concept unheard of around these parts until last year.

It’s typically taught in law schools and deals with systemic racism such as the redlining of neighborhoods through lending practices and other now-illegal practices used to keep out Black people. When George Jefferson moved on up to the East Side, he had a lot of money and he had to be brash. Think about it.

When will we see you again?

Gov. Bill Lee announced Wednesday he is holding a press conference Feb. 24 to unveil his administration’s plan to adopt a new K-12 funding formula.

For the last two weeks, the governor held press conferences to tell the public he is getting ready to announce his proposal. This time, he just sent out a press release to let us know it would be next week, because we thought it would be this week.

This is about as confusing as the Basic Education Program.

According to Senate Republican Chairman Ken Yager, a “rocket scientist” couldn’t figure out how it works.

No doubt, most Tennesseans wouldn’t understand it. But apparently we have some rocket scientists working in state government, because the state has been sending school districts billions of dollars every year, based on dozens of factors.

Granted, the state has had its share of lawsuits, too, because just about every district in Tennessee, at some point, has felt it was underfunded. Thus, they sued.

Maybe, just maybe, the problem is lack of funding, because even with the $1 billion or so the governor is planning to put toward K-12 schools in fiscal 2023-24, Tennessee will be ranked in the lower 40s nationally. Remember, we only have 50 states.

Senate Republican Ken Yager said a “rocket scientist” couldn’t figure out how the state’s Basic Education Program, which funds K-12 education, works — and the formula is about to get more complicated.

Those arguing for a new formula say it will provide “transparency” and “accountability” to show exactly how school districts spend money. If you read between the lines, that means they believe administrators are hoarding the money to themselves instead of putting it in classrooms.

Thus, instead of basing the formula on districts, the state will build everything on the “individual” needs of some 1 million children. Every situation will be “weighted,” factoring in poverty, rural, urban, disability, growth, etc., on each child.

Critics say this is another step in Gov. Lee’s plan to privatize public education. Supporters say it has to be done so people will be able to understand how districts are spending the money.

My question is: Will people be just as confused by this one, too?

Sen. Ferrell Haile, a Gallatin Republican, answers in the negative. Anyone will be able to figure it out with a spreadsheet, he says.

I hope he’s right.

But does the Legislature have time to digest this matter and pass it this year? Yarbro says it’s “irresponsible” to slap the plan in front of legislators in late February and expect them to give it “thoughtful consideration” by the end of the session.

Lt. Gov. McNally acknowledges the Finance, Ways and Means Committee might have to work a little longer. But then again, the Senate Education Committee is set to close March 14.

With this Legislature, that should be plenty of time to slam it through.

What racism?

Rep. Bud Hulsey caught the ire of the Associated Press when he sponsored a resolution condemning the venerable news organization for publishing an article about widespread racism within the ranks of the military. The AP spent months, if not years, on this article, obtaining open records, interviewing officials and doing what the AP does, which is great and unbiased work.

Hulsey says he brought the resolution at the request of constituents who disagreed with the article because they felt it painted the military with an unfair brush stroke. It was too broad and didn’t put the number of racial complaints into context with the size of the military and the number of minorities serving in the armed forces, Hulsey says.

Yet when he met with the Veterans Caucus to gauge support, Hulsey says only one person stood up to back it. Everyone else sat quietly. That one person was Rep. John “Ray-gun” Ragan, an Air Force veteran and the sponsor of last year’s “critical race theory” bill.

Thus, Hulsey withdrew the bill. Oh well, as one senator said when Hulsey raised a ruckus over gold bullion, “You gotta love Bud Hulsey?”

No to the Black Caucus

The House recently passed a joint resolution honoring Dr. Kennard Brown for his “laudable achievements as a healthcare executive.”

Brown grew up in Mississippi but climbed the ranks in a varied life and eventually became executive vice chancellor and chief operations officer at University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis.

The measure passed with ease, but when the Tennessee Black Caucus tried to attach its name to the measure and run it back through on the House’s consent calendar, which is used for non-controversial items, guess what: It became controversial.

Is Jackson Republican Rep. Chris Todd taking on the Legislative Black Caucus? Todd has raised questions about TSU funding and objected to a joint resolution with the Caucus name attached to it.

Rep. Chris Todd, a Jackson Republican, objected and asked that it be removed from the consent agenda. Todd also raised questions about the state study showing the Legislature shorted Tennessee State University of $150 million to $544 million over its 100-year history.

Under Gov. Lee’s budget plan for 2022-23, TSU would receive $250 million to rebuild its campus, $60 million for an engineering building and $8 million for maintenance. Finally, it could start competing with other state universities for students. Todd, though, challenges the funding because of questions he raised about a land grant study on TSU last summer.

Now, he’s dissing the Black Caucus.

Are we starting to see a recurring theme here?

Handwriting on the wall

Republican Sen. Brian Kelsey of Germantown postponed until March 17 his legislation requiring state universities to consider ACT or SAT scores for admissions.

Initially, Kelsey accused administrators at the University of Tennessee of “wokeism” for wanting to be like Harvard and no longer use the college entrance exams. Senate colleagues sent a cold wind his way, forcing him to postpone the bill nearly two weeks ago.

It appears he’ll be trying to round up votes for the next month and possibly longer.

Check your bag at the border

State Sen. Frank Nicely is sponsoring legislation to create residency requirements for congressional candidates. His bill would force them to live in Tennessee for three voting cycles before they could run, about six years.

Nicely, a Strawberry Plains Republican, says nobody knew there wasn’t a residency requirement for Congress. But since the governor has to live here for seven years before running, judicial and district attorney candidates five years, and state Senate and House candidates three years, then a new rule is only fair for congressional candidates.

The U.S. Constitution is quiet on the matter, so it’s up to the states, according to the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Nicely says.

Is there a deeper meaning to this, though?

Asked if his legislation could be considered the “Beth Harwell Protection Act,” Nicely says, “No, I mean it will protect Tennesseans from invasion. We don’t want people flying over America and saying, ‘Hey there’s an empty seat, let’s go down there and buy that one. They’re a bunch of hillbillies, we can win that one.’”

Nicely is a well-known supporter of former Republican House Speaker Harwell, who has been considering a congressional run depending on the outcome of redistricting, which wound up busting Davidson County into three seats. Harwell didn’t answer my latest call to see if she plans to run.

Several people, however, have declared their candidacy for the new 5th District seat, where Harwell lives, after Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper dropped out.

Harwell could find herself running against Williamson County businessman Robby Starbuck, attorney and retired National Guard Brigadier Gen. Kurt Winstead, Williamson County businessman Baxter Lee and former U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus, who recently moved to Tennessee and promptly netted the endorsement of former President Donald Trump before entering the race.

Nicely’s bill could target two of those, but most likely Ortagus.

With that in mind, Sen. Nicely, is this an “anti-carpetbagger bill?”

“Yeah,” Nicely says. “Or Gucci bagger.”

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit network of state government news sites supported by grants and a coalition of donors.