Texas Sen. Brandon Creighton said that when he took over the Senate Education chairmanship, combining K-12 and higher education revealed a trend at Texas public universities where hiring faculty seemed to require adherence to a leftist, Marxist political stance. Creighton was a guest on a recent episode of the Texas Talks Podcast.

“When Lieutenant Governor Patrick asked me to take over the chairmanship of Senate Education, he combined the Higher Education Committee with the K-12 Public Education Committee," said Creighton in a recent edition of the Texas Talks Podcast. “Those were separate for a very long time in the Texas Senate. That also brings in a workforce component, which is very important to the future of our state. We started looking at reforms for K-12 and our university campuses, and how all of that ties to the workforce.”

“Immediately, we saw in the reform effort and the agenda we were putting together that it was very clear what was happening at the university level," said Creighton. “Our Texas public universities—usually thought of as Stanford, UCLA, Berkeley, the things happening out in California—but we were seeing in our Texas public universities, there was a giant neon sign above the human resources department hiring professors and faculty that said, if you're not willing to sign a loyalist, leftist, Marxist political oath, you need not apply.”

Creighton is a Texas state senator representing District 4, which includes parts of Montgomery, Harris, Chambers, Jefferson, and Galveston counties. Prior to his Senate role, he served as a state representative for District 16 and was elected chairman of the Texas House Republican Caucus.

Texas Talks podcast is hosted by Brad Swail. The weekly show is focused on public policy in the state of Texas, with insights from the people and organizations that influence it.

The podcast is available on Simple Cast and YouTube.