You are welcome to use or adapt the template below to reach out to professional organizations, discipinary societies, centers, or coalitions. Replace brackets.
[DATE]
Dear [ORGANIZATION / LEADERSHIP TITLE],
We write as faculty in [DEPARTMENT] at Texas Tech University to request your assistance in responding to a rapidly escalating censorship regime affecting teaching, research, and student learning.
As of April 9, 2026, the Texas Tech University System prohibits course content related to sexual orientation and gender identity—with limited, tightly constrained exceptions at the upper-division and graduate levels, alongside restrictions on graduate student research and closure of departments and programs that center these areas.
This is viewpoint-based censorship that functions as prior restraint: it compels faculty to avoid lawful, discipline-relevant material and deters students from asking questions central to many fields. The chilling effect reaches beyond any single department. Any discipline can be affected when faculty are prohibited from addressing the lived realities of patients, clients, communities, organizations, and human behavior.
Texas Tech is a public R1 institution serving more than 40,000 students. If these restrictions are allowed to continue, they will degrade educational quality, undermine shared governance and disciplinary standards, and damage Texas Tech’s ability to recruit faculty and graduate students.
We respectfully ask [ORGANIZATION] to:
Publicly condemn the restrictions publicly and reaffirm the principle of academic freedom in teaching and research. Examples of condemnations can be found at StopCampusCensorship.com/Texas-Tech.
Share this information with your membership and affiliated units, including guidance for mentoring and recruitment.
Consider proportionate professional responses, including:
Advising members and affiliated groups not to hold conferences, institutes, or other professional events at Texas Tech while these policies remain in effect.
Encouraging journals, newsletters, and disciplinary outlets not to publish job advertisements for Texas Tech positions under current conditions.
Issuing a professional advisory warning members about the risks of applying for or accepting employment at Texas Tech.
Advising faculty mentors and graduate directors to warn prospective graduate students about the climate for research and teaching.
We welcome the opportunity to speak with you about the situation and to connect you with additional documentation. Thank you for standing with faculty and students in defense of academic freedom.
In solidarity,
[NAME(S)]
[DEPARTMENT / ROLE]
Texas Tech University
[EMAIL]