That's win-win for us. Here's how my fantasy plays outThe Annoyed Man wrote: Exactly. But....... what if they buy themselves a wand and start wanding people? Of course nothing they do will have force of law, but I am absolutely counting an a liberal anti-gun professor not having any respect for the law, AND being perfectly willing to escalate things by demanding to see what set the wand off, etc., etc., etc.
I probably shouldn't say this but I doubt they will listen so here goes:
Dear Liberal Professors at Texas Universities,
I'm not a lawyer but I'll bet plenty of them in the Attorney General's office will want to speak to you if you intentionally violate the law. Oh sure you can sign a letter and SAY you will, but who among you will actually do it? Usually tenure is enough to protect you from the consequences of exercising your "academic freedom" (what's known in the real world as "idiocy") but I'm willing to place a small wager that breaking the law in a very high-profile way is a bridge too far.
Oh sure, you'll call it civil disobedience but we'll call it "termination for cause". Normally you might even be able slide by while sticking it to your bosses who, after all, are liberal professors, too. They get it and might not even come after you very hard. Notice I said "normally". The reason it is different this time is because this isn't a faculty lounge debate about due process and appeals committees. You will have angered powerful members of the Texas Legislature. And the governor. Not that you care, but your boss's, boss's, boss is appointed by that same governor and confirmed by those senators. Those darn hack political appointees might force the administration to have much more of a backbone than they usually would. In fact, it might be your scalp or theirs. Especially if the Legislature starts talking about retribution to the institution's budget. But hey, they'll stand by you, right? On principle. Not tolerate interference with the "learning process" and talk truth to power! Right ...
This is, actually, a win for you and I know you planned it this way all along being the clever Ph.D that you are. Sure you get fired and everyone in the Texas academic community has to beg and plead to minimize the damage as the Legislature considers changes to the tenure system and to campus carry reducing the discretion that boards now enjoy. Sad to be them given the damage you've caused but LTCs are happier. As for you, your courageous fight in mean ole redneck Texas has made you a cause celebe and earned you a job (at a higher rank, naturally) in the University of California system at Berkeley. You are leaving the dream now! And to think that some people said you didn't know what you were doing! That'll show 'em.
SA-TX