Texas Tech’s regents just picked state Sen. Brandon Creighton—the same guy who authored Texas’ anti-DEI law, kneecapped tenure, and pushed bills limiting campus protests—to lead the entire university system. Because nothing says “academic leadership” like handing the keys to the person who gutted your freedoms in the first place.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick cheered the move, bragging that Texas universities no longer need “nine letters behind your name and some education degree” to run them. Translation: forget scholars, we want politicians who’ll play ball with the Capitol. Creighton’s résumé reads less like a research agenda and more like a culture-war scorecard—ban DEI? Check. Undermine faculty? Check. Make sure protests can be shut down when they get uncomfortable? Double check.
Regents insist it’s all about “fundraising and connections,” since the chancellor’s job is basically schmoozing donors and begging Austin for scraps. Critics, meanwhile, warn this is just another step in turning higher ed into a political puppet show where universities follow orders instead of ideas. Creighton will now oversee the very laws he helped write, including deciding which programs stay alive and which get axed if they don’t please the Legislature.
Locals were surprised Creighton beat out U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington, a Tech alum, but board chair Cody Campbell said Creighton “might as well be from West Texas” because he grew up on a ranch in New Mexico and once worked in a chemical plant. Nothing screams Red Raider pride like “close enough.”
From banning DEI to banning protests, Creighton’s been shaping Texas higher ed for years. Now he doesn’t just write the rules—he gets to enforce them. What could possibly go wrong?
https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/05/texas-tech-university-brandon-creighton-chancellor/
