Fincher: Decisions over curriculum should remain in educators’ hands

By Editor | July 8, 2026 |

“More than half of modern culture depends upon what one shouldn’t read.” – Algernon Moncrieff in the play “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde

They always dissolve the senate.

Napoleon, Mussolini, Pinochet. Even Darth Vader’s boss, Emperor Palpatine, dissolved the fictional Galactic Senate to take full control of the evil empire in the “Star Wars” movie series.

Now we can add the Auburn University Board of Trustees to that list after the Board moved forward with two controversial proposals last month.

The first was to dissolve the university’s faculty senate, and the second was to take greater control of what courses are taught as well as the subject matter presented in those courses.

Though discarding the senate sounds foreboding, the curriculum decision is actually more worrisome.

Quickly, on Auburn’s faculty senate, while I disagree with its removal and replacement with a toothless academic advisory council, the senate had little power in Auburn’s operations anyway.

Much of its time was spent squabbling with the administration and amongst senators themselves over a variety of petty topics and personal slights.

Where a lack of a faculty senate could have an effect is it removes an avenue for faculty members to present a united front to make their voices heard.

For example, when the Board of Trustees oversteps its bounds – which has been noted as a problem in previous accreditation processes at Auburn and now may be again with these recent decisions – there is one less organized method to push back against the Board.

Yet, what is even more concerning is the Board’s interest in taking greater control of what is taught by faculty.

I understand why there is appeal in reining in professors after DEI – diversity, equity and inclusion – policies ran amok in higher education for several years.

At one point there was debate in academia about removing Jane Austen from English literature curricula because the upper-crust world of 1800s England she wrote about benefitted from colonialism. That is getting a little carried away.

However, Auburn is responding in one of the few ways that is even worse – allowing the Board of Trustees to decide what is appropriate.

What is the problem with placing university governing boards in charge of curriculum?

State Sen. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile, serves on the Jacksonville State University Board of Trustees. She may have said it best earlier this year when the Alabama Senate was debating legislation to empower public university governing boards to oversee matters of curriculum.

She was quoted by the Alabama Reflector’s Anna Barrett saying, “There is only one person who has been in education on our board. I think in all of the universities on their boards they try to get people who are business people who can raise that money.

“We’re going to have a lot of unqualified people across this state in many of these institutions to be given the responsibility to make up a curriculum. So I don’t know how that is going to work.”

Therein lies the problem with a board of trustees meddling with courses and curriculum.

College instructors have spent years studying topics and trends in their respective fields. They should be given leeway to communicate what is important about their subjects to the students.

When there are clear instances of an instructor or the requirements for a degree going off the rails, that is when administration and the Board should act but not beforehand by requiring preapproval.

That might make university attorneys’ heads spin when thinking about potential liability for instructors promoting divisive concepts, but being reactive instead of proactive is the right course of action in this case.

I have previously discussed some uncomfortable topics in this column not because I found them enjoyable but because I thought it was important for you and me to think about them occasionally even when we do not see eye to eye.

Similarly, if you send your kids to college they are going to be presented with theories and ideas with which you will disagree. College is supposed to challenge your notions of how the world works when you are at an age mature enough to consider what is true and what is malarkey.

It is good to have your beliefs and values challenged occasionally. Learning to defend them will strengthen your convictions. Hiding from differing viewpoints because you are frightened they will influence you negatively only proves you lack faith in what you believe.

Trust your child’s ability to process new information without suddenly deciding to overthrow the global capitalist patriarchy. It will help them understand the world in the long run.

Brandon Fincher is an academic journal editor at Auburn University. He lives in Opelika with his wife, daughter and two Labrador retrievers. You can find his writing at brandonfincher.com.