Leaders of the Texas Republican Party wanted to clamp down on higher education this legislative session – and they did. The Republicans passed Senate Bill 37, a bill some professors are calling the most wide-reaching threat to academic freedom that the state has ever approved.
SB 37 will greatly increase the power of the boards of regents who govern seven university systems in the state. These boards are made up of Republican allies appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott with the approval of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s Senate. The bill lets the regents have final say over the hiring of university leaders – provosts, vice presidents, and deans. (Last week, UT’s board selected as VP William Inboden, a conservative national security expert who will also have a faculty position at the university’s Republican-mandated School of Civic Leadership.)
On top of increasing the influence of regents boards, the bill also creates an office to investigate professors accused of violating its rules and the anti-DEI law passed in 2023. And it will give the regents the power to overturn decisions made by university officials on the courses and degree programs they offer, decisions that have always been the province of professional educators.
Critics of SB 37 say that letting political appointees with no background in education make fundamental university decisions will inevitably lower standards and tarnish the universities’ reputations. “These are accomplished people, but they have not spent their career in academia,” Jaime Puente of public policy advocates Every Texan said. “They’re not experts in the many different academic fields that they’re going to have oversight over. It’s big government overreach if ever there was big government overreach.”
But who are these people?
Since assuming office in 2015, Abbott has appointed over 100 people to the state’s various boards of regents, according to a 2022 Texas Tribune analysis. The analysis found that more than 70% of those placed on the boards to that point had donated significant amounts of money to the governor. About 30% have given him more than $100,000. The boards at the state’s larger universities, like the University of Texas at Austin, were stacked with wealthy donors, the Tribune found.
“It’s big government overreach if ever there was big government overreach.” – Jaime Puente of public policy advocates Every Texan
Publicly available information on UT’s Board of Regents corroborates the findings. Of the nine appointees on the board, data from Transparency USA shows that at least seven have donated to Abbott, beginning with Kelcy Warren, whom Abbott reappointed for a second term last month. Warren is the co-founder and CEO of Energy Transfer LP, one of the largest oil and gas pipeline companies in the world. According to Transparency USA, Warren has donated over $4 million to Abbott. According to Open Secrets, he has funneled millions to Donald Trump, including a $5 million donation in the 2024 race, and tens of thousands more to Republicans across the country. Warren is a MAGA loyalist who has complained that protesters of his company’s Dakota Access pipeline should be “removed from the gene pool.”
UT’s Board of Regents is heavy with investors. Stuart Stedman, the president of a family investment office holding oil and gas assets, large ranches, and urban real estate, has donated almost $2 million to Abbott. Robert Gauntt, who manages the investments of, in his company’s words, “a small number of prominent families,” has donated over $70,000. James “Rad” Weaver has given Abbott $85,000 since 2015.
Abbott has made a habit of reappointing members of UT’s Board of Regents to second terms, including Jodie Lee Jiles and Christina Melton Crain. Jiles is the director of business development for a privately held real estate developer and, before that, worked for 26 years as an investment banker. Crain is the former chair of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice and has a women’s prison named after her. The Crain Unit sits on the site of the Gatesville State School, Texas’ notorious youth prison, which operated from 1887 to 1979 and was a precursor to today’s Texas Juvenile Justice Department. Crain has donated $200,000 to Abbott, according to Transparency USA.
Janiece Longoria and Nolan Perez are also serving second terms on the board. Longoria is the daughter of the late Democratic state Sen. Raúl Longoria, a longtime member of the Texas Legislature. She has worked as an attorney, the chairperson of Port Houston, and a board member of energy companies. She has contributed $87,000 to Abbott. Perez, a doctor and the owner of a Harlingen gastroenterology practice, has donated $325,000.
The most powerful member of the board, Chairman Kevin Eltife, is a career Republican politician from East Texas who served in the Texas Senate from 2004 to 2017. He also owns Eltife Properties, a commercial real estate company. During the pro-Palestine protests last year, Eltife defended UT’s investment in the weapons manufacturers that have supplied Israel with the guns and bombs it is using in its Gaza genocide, saying divestment in the companies was “not an option.” He said UT made “the right decision” to call in state troopers last April to put down pro-Palestine demonstrations and arrest students peacefully protesting for divestment. “This board is proud of how this has been handled,” he said after the arrests.
Katherine McNevins contributed to this report.
This article appears in August 1 • 2025.
