Universities continued to tighten oversight of classroom speech and curriculum after UC Berkeley suspended a lecturer in the electrical engineering and computer science department for pro‑Palestinian comments and participation in a hunger strike. The campus cited violations of a regent policy restricting non‑course political advocacy in class; the lecturer has denied wrongdoing and plans to appeal the suspension. Separately, Texas Tech began collecting instructor disclosures about race and gender content in courses, asking faculty to report whether they “advocate for” or “promote” certain identities. The move followed state mandates and is part of broader compliance steps at institutions operating under new state laws that limit DEI programming. Both moves highlight rising legal and political pressure on faculty governance, classroom autonomy and academic freedom. Universities must now balance state compliance obligations, federal civil‑rights considerations and faculty governance processes — a dynamic that legal counsel, accreditors and campus leaders say will shape course approval, recruitment and campus climate.