Eleven current and future Texas House Republicans picked a fight with Governor Greg Abbott on Friday when they portrayed his appointees to the University of Texas System board as socialists gone woke as a product of tuition giveaways that could go to LGBTQ+ students and migrants who aren't official U.S. citizens.
With far-right State Rep. Brian Harrison of Midlothian as the ringleader, the cadre of conservatives outlined their grievances in a letter that they directed to system Chairman Kevin Eltife and his colleagues on the board of regents at UT. The group's members expressed outrage with the school's announcement this week that tuition would be free in the fall for students from families with income of $100,000 or less.
The group argued that the decision would have "direct financial consequences for our constituents, many of who are struggling to put gas in their tanks and food on their tables."
The Republicans who signed the critical communique also featured rookie State Reps. Nate Schatzline of Fort Worth and Steve Toth of The Woodlands along with eight representatives-elect in Janis Holt of Silsbee, Andy Hopper of Decatur, Helen Kerwin of Glen Rose, David Lowe of Fort Worth, Mike Olcott of Aledo, Brent Money of Greenville, Keresa Richardson of McKinney and Wes Virdell of Brady.
It wasn't clear if the incoming House members realized they that Abbott would find the effort insulting and offensive as the leader who selected all of the UT regents for the highly-coveted positions on the board that controls the flagship institution of higher learning in the nation's second largest state. Abbott is a UT graduate and devoted fan who's a fixture on the sidelines at Longhorn football games.
Three of the Republicans who signed the letter - Holt, Kerwin and Olcott - unseated incumbents in the primary election with campaigns that Abbott bankrolled. Abbott may not see the UT regents attack as the kind of gratitude he would expect from challengers who he lifted to wins over incumbents who'd been allies before he turned on them in an epic bid for revenge for votes to kill a school vouchers bill.
The governor supported House Republicans who were ousted by Hopper, Lowe and Richardson in the March primary election or a spring runoff vote. Abbott backed a candidate who Virdell beat in an open race for the House in round one this year.
Eltife served for a dozen years as a Republican in the Texas Senate before Abbott named him as a UT regent in 2017 after stepping down from the Legislature without a re-election race the year before. Eltife was elected to chair the board of regents initially in late 2018. He was re-elected in 2021 and 2023.
Eltife has led the governing board in a way that's kept the potential for controversy to a minimum. The former East Texas solon won rave reviews from legislators and others during the spring for his handling of Palestinian protests that turned violent on the campus in Austin after Abbott dispatched the state police to the scene.
The Republicans who called out Eltife and other regents they declined to name sought to grill the board in a string of questions that were laced with veiled threats. Harrison's group wanted to know whether the Legislature had been consulted about the policy change that will give some students tuition at no cost to their families. Harrison and his allies pressed the regents on the statutory authority on which they justified the tuition break.
The Republicans asked how the UT policy differed from the tuition plan that President Joe Biden backed before it was tossed in the courts. The Republicans sought to remind Eltife and his fellow regents that the school relies on state lawmakers for funding with the third of 14 questions that were posed in the letter. "Which branch of government has the authorize and appropriate state funds?" the 11 conservatives who penned their signatures to the letter asked the system board members.
"Is it true that a working class Texan, who did not attend college or university and is making $45k/year would effectively be subsiding the child of a parent who makes $100k/year?" the Harrison group stated in the letter to the regents who the Republican governor selected for the system board posts or re-appointed.
Harrison slammed the tuition break as "socialist, regressive, and possibly unconstitutional" in a post on X.
But Harrison failed to point out in the letter or social media posts that
the only legal constituents who won't qualify for free tuition are the state's richest people who have incomes in the six-digit range or higher.
“Nothing is free," the second-term lawmaker declared. "This outrageous abuse of power by unelected, executive branch bureaucrats makes higher education in Texas more socialist than California. A decision this consequential should only be made by the legislature. If you liked Biden’s unconstitutional loan forgiveness program, you’ll love this. The legislature must stop this Nancy Pelosi-esque, regressive, welfare-for-the-rich program that abuses working class Texans by forcing them to fund “free” college for “LGBTQ Studies” students. There must be consequences. UT’s budget must be cut, and bureaucrats should be fired.”
