AI scans the curriculum at Texas Tech

From The New York Times (gift link): “A Texas University Becomes a Petri Dish for a Conservative Overhaul”:

Texas Tech is using A.I. to ferret out books and other materials that touch on topics like sexual orientation and gender identity. Professors describe the effort as a dystopian academic nightmare, in which ideologues are wielding technology to sideline subject-matter experts.

The chancellor at this five-school system says that this effort “‘will produce the best curriculum in America’” and become a national model.

The Times ill-considered subhead refers to “left-leaning content” and “forbidden topics,” a glaring distortion of what’s at stake. For instance:

Sonja Stojanovic, a French studies professor, worried about her core course, called Holocaust in Literature. Because it mentions that gay and bisexual men were also targets of the Nazis, university leadership suggested that the course become an upper-level course.

“Now the Holocaust becomes an elective,” she said.

And one could ask: forbidden since when, and by whom?

The article notes that “A faculty senate survey from May found that about 50 percent of respondents changed their course content without being asked to comply with the new directives.” See Tyler Austin Harper’s observation: “The cowardice of tenured faculty is a root cause of a lot of problems.” At Texas Tech, some faculty might better have heeded Timothy Snyder’s advice: “Do not obey in advance.”