Open Campus hosted a virtual conversation earlier this month focused on the future of higher education in Texas. More than 120 people joined us for the discussion.

Have ideas of what we should cover in the state, in partnership with our four Texas newsrooms? Let us know.

Here’s a brief recap of the webinar:

Texas consistently makes national headlines, and often it’s because of the state’s political battles in higher education. Last year lawmakers banned diversity, equity and inclusion policies, programming and training at public universities. The Legislature toyed with the idea of doing away with tenure. Colleges and universities here serve as vessels for the state’s power players to virtue signal their morals and social fears.

It’s not just a vanguard in the culture wars, though. Think of House Bill 8, the historic investment in community college which completely revamps how these schools are funded and incentivizes student success. We could see other states replicate this model when legislative sessions begin in January.

“There is this overarching narrative about the politicization of higher education but when you dive into the public policy, there are a lot of different nuances and really important public policies that are shaping the future of higher education of the entire state,” said Sara Hebel, Open Campus editor in chief during a webinar we hosted earlier this month.

This is why we’ve launched Open Campus Texas, a collaborative effort with local newsroom partners to provide thoughtful beat coverage exploring how colleges drive economic opportunity, advance social mobility, and foster healthy families. We gathered our team on the webinar to discuss the way colleges and universities are shaping the state’s future.

“The state Legislature here in Texas really operates in a lot of ways around education through incentives,” Houston Landing Team Leader Jacob Carpenter said during the webinar. “I think our coverage, especially around STEM and community college will certainly be looking at that nexus and how that plays out and what that looks like for kids and young adults.”

Open Campus Texas is comprised of reporters and editors across the state:

  • Shomial Ahmad is covering the colleges of Fort Worth and Arlington for the Fort Worth Report. 
  • At the Texas Tribune, Sneha Dey covers pathways from education to employment and the accessibility of postsecondary education. Kate McGee covers higher education statewide. Both are based in Austin.
  • Daniel Perez covers higher education at El Paso Matters. 
  • Houston Landing is currently hiring its higher ed reporter.

If you missed it, you can watch the webinar in full here using this password: pfV45%Yp

About Open Campus

Founded in 2019, Open Campus is the only nonprofit news organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to higher education. It’s built on an innovative collaborative model, combining a national newsroom that knows higher ed deeply with local newsrooms that know their communities deeply. Open Campus has put local reporters on the higher-ed beat in partnerships with 14 newsrooms around the country. Learn more about our model.