Teaching in Challenging Times Revisited—A Perspective from Texas

Twenty years ago, we were trying to make a transition to include online learning and we thought that was a challenge. Today, we are adjusting to the use of Artificial Intelligence and how to guide our students with this new technology. But, beginning in 2020 and continuing through today, political scientists have experienced far more challenges than we thought possible. No one could have predicted a global pandemic, a rising number of protests across this country, an assault on our nation’s capital, the re-election of Donald Trump and executive and legislative actions that threaten academic freedom. This is certainly true in my state of Texas where we have seen the 2023 legislature abolish diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and the last session in 2025 weakening faculty and administrative control. This paper seeks to highlight these events, in particular the legislation passed in the Texas Legislature in both 2023 and 2025.