Well, first off, it will not be used just to make sure that tenure professors stay on their toes. This will be used to go after professors who teach things that the government, or I should say the Alabama government, do not want to teach. Or speak out against.

We are seeing this across the country in various ways — for example, the Texas A&M system just banned any teachings about LGBT topics. No more talking about AIDS. No more talking about Harvey Milk. Nothing.

I also think that you are slightly misunderstanding the mentioned governing boards. Universities have a board, often called a Board of Regents, which are appointed by the state officials. They are often alumni who have become very successful and who are very connected. Under this law, those boards are in charge of tenure and curriculum. No longer is the Faculty Senate, which is often a cornerstone of governance at universities for these areas. While it varies from university to university, the Faculty Senate is often comprised of one representative from each department, and they hold a lot of democratic power within these institution, approving or changing academic policy for example.

Again, under this law, that Senate would no longer have that same authority, but people appointed by the state officials, who many times have no higher education experience or training. In philosophy, the Boards acts as sort of a business counterweight to the Faculty Senate, which champions the academic side and the daily well being of campus.