Support Senate Bill 1709

Faculty Equity and Diversity Bill

We would appreciate your support for Senate Bill 1709 authored by Senators César
Blanco and José Menéndez (see copy of the bill: https://legiscan.com/TX/bill/SB1709/2021).
If adopted, the Faculty Equity and Diversity Bill would require colleges and universities
to conduct equity assessments and adopt plans to address pay and representation inequities
among minority faculty. The idea originated after eight Hispanic full professors formed the
Independent Equity Committee at the University of Texas at Austin and prepared a report
demonstrating pay inequities among Hispanic faculty (for a copy of the report, see:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1shthHO9689ekpc9ztEB9UDJClhnKTfUH/view ).
In the process of making the Hispanic Equity Report available to the public, the
Independent Equity Committee received numerous reports from colleagues in other Texas
colleges and universities acknowledging that the problem of pay inequity and under-
representation was also present on their campuses. An especially glaring problem is that
Hispanic faculty often receive lower pay despite high levels of productivity. In other words,
Hispanic colleges and universities throughout Texas are most probably following the lead of the
University of Texas in denying Hispanic faculty just remuneration for the high quantity and
quality of their scholarly production, relative to their White counterparts.
If you agree with Senate Bill 1709, please take the time to communicate your support to
your senators and the general public. (consult the following site to identify your senator:
https://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/?lat=30.251357&lon=-
97.792964&address=2653%20barton%20hills%20drive&state= ). You may also wish to share
this appeal for support through social media.
You could state that as public institutions, colleges and universities should welcome
standard equity assessments and plans of action. You may also call on colleges and universities
to do self-assessments as examples of proper ethical behavior by institutions that serve the public
interest. Also, colleges and universities should take the lead on this, otherwise, concerned groups
like the Independent Equity Committee will expose inequities as well as their refusal to assume
responsibility for truly making our campuses diverse, equitable and inclusive.
If you are interested in receiving notices on the progress of SB 1709 or if you wish to
offer testimony in support of the bill, Please complete this 6-question Google form. The
information you provide will go into a database (spreadsheet). When the bill is on the calendar to
be heard by the full senate, we will contact those who agree to be contacted to communicate next
steps. This process can move quickly, so we want to prepared!
We appreciate your support and eagerness to see this bill become a law! If you have any
questions about the process, please reach out to Stacy Hernández, the legislative assistant in Sen.
Blanco’s office, or Emilio Zamora, E.zamora@austin.utexas.edu, a member of the Independent
Equity Committee.
Feel free to share this appeal for support of SB 1709, the Faculty Equity and Diversity Bill.
Emilio Zamora, Professor of History
Department of History
University of Texas at Austin
E.zamora@austin.utexas.edu

Altheria Caldera, Fellow

Policy Advocacy, and Community Engagement
Intercultural Development Research Association
Altheria.caldera@idra.org
altheria.caldera@idra.org (P.A.C.E) Education Policy Fellow

Stacy Hernández, Legislative Assistant

Senator César Blanco
Stacy.hernandez@senate.texas.gov