BY PETER LAURENCE

In May 2021, fifteen South Carolina state representatives introduced a bill into the SC General Assembly to condemn and prevent the teaching of critical race theory. Now with twenty sponsors, H. 4325 resides in the House Committee on Education and Public Works, awaiting further discussion. Expansive in its attack on educators and ideas but relatively short in words, it reads as follows in its entirety:

A BILL TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 59-29-12 SO AS TO PROVIDE PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS, PUBLIC SCHOOLS, AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING MAY NOT DIRECT OR OTHERWISE COMPEL STUDENTS TO PERSONALLY AFFIRM, ADOPT, OR ADHERE TO THE TENETS OF “CRITICAL RACE THEORY” OR PROVIDE RELATED INSTRUCTION, AND TO DEFINE NECESSARY TERMINOLOGY. 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Article 1, Chapter 29, Title 59 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:  “Section 59-29-12. (A) Public school districts, public schools, and public institutions of higher learning may not: (1) direct or otherwise compel students to personally affirm, adopt, or adhere to the tenets of critical race theory; or (2) introduce a course of instruction or unit of study directing or otherwise compelling students to personally affirm, adopt, or adhere to any of the tenets of critical race. (B) For purposes of this chapter, ‘critical race theory’ means any of the following tenets: (1) any sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin is inherently superior or inferior; (2) individuals should be adversely treated on the basis of their sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin; or (3) individuals, by virtue of sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin, are inherently responsible for actions committed in the past by other members of the same sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin.”

SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

As seen here, much of H. 4325 is nonsensical fear-mongering wrapped in weaponized concepts of diversity and inclusion. The preamble and sections 1A and 1B repeat the theme of “compelling students to personally affirm… tenets of critical race [sic]” as if legislators genuinely believed that instructors were forcing students to take Maoist or McCarthy-era loyalty oaths. Although the more gullible among them may have actually come to believe this from right-wing media, this red herring has been embedded in cynical and unnecessary language claiming to defend individuals from attacks already granted to them by laws defending them from discrimination and protecting their civil rights. 

Meanwhile, critical race theory, as an extension of hard-fought battles against discrimination and for basic civil rights, is distorted beyond recognition. (As Jennifer Ruth has described elsewhere, this is being done not just intentionally, but with determined and precise manipulation of the media.)

Yet despite reading like the fever dream of a Fox News talk show host, H. 4325 contains a canonical political attack on academic freedom in just four words. With the phrase “or provide related instruction,” a group of South Carolina politicians seek to censor and subjugate all of K12 and university instructors by ostensibly preventing them from discussing anything related to the histories and legacies of racism in the United States, and white supremacy in particular. The sad irony of this group seeking to use their seats in a statehouse that was burned almost to the ground during the Civil War to muzzle people from discussing the racial history of the state is hard to miss. Indeed, in the larger historical context, it is difficult to not see this proposal itself as closely tied to the state’s undeniable histories of slavery, social and spatial segregation, and other forms of white supremacy. 

The attack on academic freedom promoted in H. 4325 is not unique to South Carolina, however. Appearing as it did in the late spring of 2021, when COVID-19 appeared to be coming under control, the proposed bill was just part of “getting back to normal” and a filling of the void temporarily left by the pandemic with a nationwide chorus of rightwing attacks on the “critical race theory” bogeyman. According to Education Week, 27 states have taken steps to prevent educators from discussing racism and sexism, and 12 states have enacted bans. This report also notes laws attempting to dictate “patriotic education,” and South Carolina is one of a number of states that also have bills such as S. 534, the “Restore America’s Foundation Act,” and H. 3002, which specifies an explicit lesson plan for teaching “American founding principles.”  

But without question the most disturbing of all these attempts to control speech and dictate the contents of curricula is H. 3076— which would align the hiring of faculty to political party demographics. Once again hijacking efforts to improve institutional diversity and inclusion, the “ethnic and political diversity” act states that “The faculty of a public institution of higher learning must reflect the proportional ethnic diversity and political diversity of the State.” It goes on to explain that “Beginning in 2021 and every ten years thereafter, the Commission on Higher Education shall identify the ethnic composition of the State based on data from the most recent official United States Decennial Census and the political party support composition of the State based on major party participation in the most recent federal election, and report these findings to each institution… Each institution shall ensure each new faculty member hired increases compliance with the requirements of this section until full compliance is achieved.” The legislation would apply to “all instructors of students at any level, full-time, part-time, tenured or nontenured.” 

What we are observing here is another fabricated “Red Scare” and corresponding steps to control not only the speech of K12 and university faculty, but to control the institutions and processes that hire them. This is exactly the kind of censorship that the AAUP was founded to prevent, although what is now being fought is closer to totalitarianism. 

Now more than ever (with pandemic-era school reopening plans also having become subject to political games and power plays), university professors need to remember that K12 teachers are subject to the very same attacks, typically through the same proposed legislation, but lack the same support. Therefore, let H. 4325 and these other bills be not only a motivation to continue defending our own academic freedom but a call to stand with our fellow teachers. In South Carolina we can join groups like SC for Ed and the South Carolina Education Association, and, nationally, groups like the American Federation of Teachers. These groups welcome university professors. It is time to join forces.     

Peter Laurence, associate professor of architecture, is a chapter leader at the Clemson Chapter of the AAUP and author of Becoming Jane Jacobs.