Professors across the Texas State University System are about to lose their formal voice in campus decision-making — at least temporarily.

The system is allowing faculty senates — bodies made up of professors who approve and advise university leaders on curricula, faculty hiring and other academic issues — to be abolished under a new state law, creating a gap in faculty representation that other public university systems are actively trying to avoid.

The law, Senate Bill 37, is part of a broader effort by Republican lawmakers to assert more control over public universities following years of clashes with faculty over issues like tenure, diversity initiatives and academic freedom. It requires boards of regents to either authorize significantly restructured faculty senates or allow existin

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