July 21, 2026

To President Jim Davis, Provost William Inboden, and the Board of Regents of the University of Texas System:

We, the undersigned community members, write with grave concern regarding the denial of tenure to Dr. Iván Chaar López, Assistant Professor of American Studies at The University of Texas at Austin. The circumstances surrounding this decision raise urgent questions about academic freedom, faculty governance, due process, and the future of politically engaged scholarship at public universities.

According to university records obtained by the Austin American-Statesman, Dr. Chaar López received overwhelming support throughout the tenure review process. Eight external reviewers from universities in the United States and Canada unanimously concluded that his scholarship met or exceeded the standards for tenure. A committee of seven faculty members in the Department of American Studies unanimously recommended his promotion. The department chair supported the recommendation. The College of Liberal Arts committee voted 19 to 2 in favor of tenure. Despite this record, a presidential tenure committee denied his application in February 2026.

Dr. Chaar López received no substantive explanation for the decision. His department chair sought clarification, and the dean reported that he did not know why tenure had been denied. President Davis and the committee declined to explain the decision or reconsider the case. This sequence of events represents a profound failure of transparency and a serious threat to the principles that give tenure review its legitimacy.

Dr. Chaar López’s research addresses precisely these questions. His scholarship investigates how border-surveillance technologies are shaped by histories of race, colonial power, and immigration enforcement. His work makes visible the political and historical structures embedded within systems that are often presented as neutral, technical, or inevitable. This research has earned substantial recognition across American Studies, history of technology, surveillance studies, border studies, and related fields.

That absence of explanation in denying tenure creates the conditions for fear, speculation, and political interference. It sends a message to faculty that scholarly achievement, disciplinary recognition, and years of institutional labor may be set aside through an opaque process. It places scholars who study politically contested subjects in an especially vulnerable position. It also tells junior faculty that the standards presented to them at the time of hiring may no longer govern their review. This case is especially troubling within the current political environment in Texas, where public universities face mounting pressure over the teaching and study of race, gender, migration, inequality, and other so-called controversial subjects.

Dr. Chaar López spent six years teaching, mentoring, researching, and serving the UT Austin community. Because of the university’s up-or-out policy, this decision requires him to leave UT Austin and begin the tenure process again at another institution. Every faculty member at UT Austin must now consider whether the published standards of tenure remain reliable. Every prospective hire must consider whether favorable external reviews, unanimous departmental support, college approval, and endorsement from a dean provide meaningful protection. Every student must consider what kinds of questions their professors will feel safe asking in the years ahead.

We call upon the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas System to take the following actions:

Provide Dr. Chaar López with a clear and substantive written explanation of the reasons for the tenure denial.
Reconsider the tenure decision through a process grounded in faculty expertise, disciplinary standards, due process, and shared governance.

The denial of tenure to Dr. Chaar López has become a national concern because it touches the central conditions of academic life. Scholars must be able to investigate power without becoming targets of that power.

We urge President Davis, Provost Inboden, and the Board of Regents to provide a full accounting of this decision, to protect Dr. Chaar López’s right to a fair and independent review, and to reconsider his tenure case.

Sincerely,