Art Markman started at the University of Texas 27 years ago as a psychology professor. Over the years, he rose to the role of senior vice provost for academic affairs.
But in mid-September, the university removed him from his administrative role due to “ideological differences.”
And he’s not the only administrator at UT who has left their position recently.
Lily Kepner, who covers higher education for the Austin American-Statesman, said the university is under a lot of political pressure to get rid of what Republican lawmakers have deemed “liberal indoctrination.”
“In September, we saw Gov. Greg Abbott take a larger role in demanding that public universities really return to academic excellence that, in their view, doesn’t have anything to do with liberal ideology,” she said. “But critics say, of course, (this) is more favorable to a conservative view.”
Markman was responsible for academics at the university.
“It’s a very senior role that had to do with courses and curriculum and making sure everything was up to the university standards,” she said. “(He was) removed very suddenly. And the university would not specify what these ideological differences are and would not comment on this, citing personnel matters.”
This announcement came after several high-profile staffing changes at other Texas colleges.
At Texas State, a professor was fired for talking at an online socialist conference. And at Texas A&M, a professor lost her job earlier this year after a video emerged of her discussing gender identities with a student.
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But Kepner said some in the UT administration have pushed back on the idea that higher education is taking on a more conservative bend,
“The provost of the University of Texas, William Inboden, and a lot of people who share his view, say that they don’t want to replace the university with purely conservative ideology. They don’t want to trade one ideological perspective for another,” she said. “What they want to do is ideologically balance the university so that all perspectives are heard.”
However, Kepner said there is still a lot of anxiety on the part of professors right now.
“But what faculty are fearful of is that professors who speak and teach on more controversial matters, such as gender identity, that is grounded in scholarship but might not be politically popular to the agenda of President Donald Trump or Gov. Greg Abbott, that they’ll lose their job or be the next target,” she said.
It is unclear who made the call to remove Markman from his administrative role.
“What we do know is that this position being open allows the provost of UT, William Inboden, and President Jim Davis of UT, to fill it with a leader who will be responsible for the academic affairs of the university and this oversight of making sure courses meet certain standards,” she said. “And that position being open at a time of tremendous political pressure on the university definitely raises questions of who is going to have a role in filling it and who will eventually fill it.”
Markman is not the only administrator to leave their role or leave UT altogether in the last year or so.
“I hear a lot of fear from professors and faculty,” Kepner said. “This is the second year of tremendous turnover at the university. In 2024, we saw about eight university leaders step down, including, of course, President Jay Hartzell, who left to lead a private university in Dallas.
So this turnover has faculty feeling on edge, especially with the political climate around higher education now. And so it’s creating a feeling of instability. Time will tell what actual impacts it has, and if it has an impact on more faculty leaving or seeking other jobs. But we haven’t seen that in the data yet.”
Disclaimer: Art Markman is a co-host of a podcast called Two Guys on Your Head, which is a production of our home station, KUT News. He is not an employee of the news organization.
