TEXAS HOUSE DEMOCRATS TO HOLD HEARING ON ABBOTT, PAXTON, TX GOP ATTACKS ON FREE SPEECH
Republicans’ crackdown on professors, students, and faculty threatens academic freedom across Texas
**TEXAS — **Texas House Democrats will hold a “People’s Hearing” next week to investigate the Republican Party’s brazen campaign to silence professors, expel students, and destroy academic freedom at Texas universities. The livestreamed hearings on **Tuesday, December 9, at 10:00 am **will be chaired by Rep. Donna Howard and will examine the wave of firings, expulsions, and threats to the First Amendment that have swept Texas campuses this fall.
The hearings will follow the same model as the Texas House Democratic Caucus' “People's Hearings” this summer, when Republicans abruptly shut down public testimony on redistricting and Democrats immediately convened their own hearing to ensure hundreds of Texans could be heard.
“The central mission of public institutions of higher education is to ensure a free, robust, and uninhibited debate by students that is informed by the guidance and expertise of professors who are empowered to provide a diverse set of perspectives, cultures, and ideologies in their teachings,” said Texas House Democrats Committee on Free Speech Chair Rep. Donna Howard. “This is a principle that was affirmed by the Legislature in 2019 through Senate Bill 18, which established guidelines intended to protect the rights of all students and faculty on campus. Current Republican outcry on this topic is shameful and must be called out for what it is: hypocritical political theater intended to silence the voices of students and faculty deemed unworthy by conservative leaders. When the rights of Texans are attacked, Texas House Democrats will fight back. I’m proud to support every Texan’s constitutional right to speak freely, even when I disagree with them.”
The hearing will be livestreamed and open to members of the public to testify. Texas House Democrats are inviting affected students, faculty, administrators, and civil liberties experts to testify about the attacks on free speech happening across Texas campuses, and will allow the public to offer their own open testimony.
**HEARING DETAILS:
WHEN: **Tuesday, December 9, 2025 at 10:00 AM
WHO:
Members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus
Students and Faculty Impacted by Free Speech Attacks
**WHERE: **Livestreamed at txhdc.co/watch, full video will be made available to media after.
**TESTIFY: **Members of the public can sign up to testify at txhdc.co/testify