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Many were shocked Tuesday when University of Texas at Austin President Jay Hartzell announced he’d be leaving the 53,000-student public school to lead Southern Methodist University, a growing but smaller university in Dallas.
But not Holden Thorp.
Thorp resigned in 2012 as chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2013, he accepted the role of provost at Washington University, which is also a smaller, private school. His departure came after he presided over an athletics scandal but he said not having to deal with lawmakers was another significant factor for his decision to leave UNC. He clashed with the North Carolina Legislature on issues such as creating gender-neutral student housing and immigration.
“The reward if I had stayed would have been that I would have had to do battle with this GOP legislature who was suspicious of me to begin with because I came from strong connections in Democratic politics, and so bailing made all the sense in the world,” said Thorp, who now serves as the editor-in-chief of the journal Science.
For Thorp and some public higher education observers, Hartzell’s departure is indicative of how difficult it has become to be a university president amid growing political pressures.
In Texas, navigating the state’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion offices has been particularly challenging, with Texas GOP leaders criticizing universities of not doing enough to enforce it and students and faculty criticizing university administrators of going too far with its implementation.
In recent years, Texas public universities have been under constant pressure to correct what conservative leaders view as a liberal bias. In 2023, Texas GOP leadership threatened to end tenure after UT-Austin faculty reaffirmed their right to teach critical race theory, which was banned in K-12 classrooms. Republican lawmakers have signaled a desire to draft legislation targeting faculty senates, curriculum and speech on college campuses during this year’s legislative session.
At least one bill has already been filed that would require universities to define certain speech as antisemitic in response to the pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses last spring.
Political interference led in part to the resignation of former Texas A&M President Kathy Banks. She left the position after turmoil over the botched hiring of Kathleen McElroy, a Black journalism professor who the Texas A&M System Board of Regents perceived as left-leaning.
Turnover among university presidents has been higher in recent years. Fifty-five percent of university presidents plan to step down in the next five years, according to a American Council of Education, which surveyed 1,000 presidents in 2022.
The COVID-19 pandemic, a projected decline in college-bound students in the Northeast and upper Midwest and budget deficits are the top contributors for this, said Jorge Burmicky, assistant professor of education leadership and policy at Howard University.
In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, Hartzell said the state’s political climate did not push him to leave UT-Austin. He did say, however, he would appreciate not having to go to the Texas Capitol as often in his new role at SMU. He also said he can be more “nimble” at the Dallas private university, and that he has no plans to eliminate its DEI office.
Hartzell starts his new job on June 1 — and some UT-Austin faculty are concerned his departure will make it more difficult for him to effectively represent the flagship campus’ interest in the legislative session that starts next week. They worry lawmakers will broaden the DEI ban to include academic programs and try to curtail faculty’s voice on campuses by limiting the influence of faculty senates, which have long played a role in developing curriculum and protecting schools’ academic mission. Republican legislators have criticized them as “woke” activists who indoctrinate students with far-left ideas.
Hartzell’s departure also opens the question of what kind of leader will now step up to the job.
“I would be very nervous if I were a faculty member at UT or someone invested in the future of UT because you’ve essentially had two presidents — three, if you go back to [former UT President] Bill Powers — that the Legislature has made their job difficult, and I’d worry who would want that job,” said Michael Harris, an SMU education policy professor.
Pauline Strong, president of the UT-Austin Chapter of American Association of University Presidents, believes faculty should be involved in the hiring process of the university’s next president. She said she wants that person to be supportive of both academic and speech freedoms, “but I don’t think that is assured.”
Some conservative leaders hope Hartzell’s departure will allow someone who better reflects their values to move into the position.
“This presents an opportunity to get real bold conservative leadership and get back to the basics, which is educating the workforce of tomorrow and strengthening the Texas economy,” said state Rep. Brian Harrison.
The Midlothian Republican has frequently criticized UT-Austin and other public universities in Texas for what he sees as a failure to comply with the DEI ban. He said he doesn’t care if the next president comes from the academic world, “provided they are willing to do a massive course correction to end liberal indoctrination.”
In other Republican-led states like Florida, people with more experience in politics than academia have increasingly been hired as university presidents.
Experts say former politicians have fundraising acumen, but point to former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska as an example of how they do not always follow university rules for hiring and spending. Sasse served as president of the University of Florida from 2023 to 2024 and, in that time, spending in his office tripled, according to the Alligator, the University of Florida student newspaper.
“He hired multiple of what are known in Washington, D.C., as ‘beltway bandits.’ It’s not really clear what any of them did,” said Judith Wilde, a George Mason University professor who studies university presidential searches, contracts and exit agreements.
Thorp said Hartzell is probably feeling the relief he felt more than a decade ago when switching from a public to private university, but laments that leaders like he and Hartzell have to factor political pressures when making that choice.
“Research universities like UT-Austin that are so outstanding are incredibly important assets to the country. The fact that it’s more attractive to run a smaller university that is nowhere close in research is a sad thing,” Thorp said.
The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
Disclosure: Southern Methodist University and University of Texas at Austin have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.