February 4, 2026
Big Brother 101: Now with tip lines
Professors Are Being Watched: 'We've Never Seen This Much Surveillance'
Syllabi online, tip lines, viral clips — transparency or thought police
TLDR: States are forcing public syllabi and setting up tip lines as classroom recordings help get professors fired; supporters call it needed transparency, critics call it chilling thought-policing. Comments split between “sunlight fixes universities” and “this is cultural revolution vibes,” with jokes about “RateMyProf: Snitch Edition.”
Professors aren’t just grading; they’re getting graded by the internet. The NYT story says states like Texas, Ohio, and Florida now require public, searchable syllabi, and Texas even opened an office for complaints. Add tip lines and phone-recorded lectures going viral, and suddenly classrooms feel like reality TV. Conservatives say this reins in bias; critics say it’s a chilling crackdown. Cue the comments section fireworks.
The loudest split: transparency vs. surveillance. One camp cheers syllabus databases as actually helpful, with theamk saying it “should be done everywhere,” calling out universities that sell prestige but teach at “advanced high-school” level. The other camp invokes history, with curt15 warning that ideology policing is “the stuff of Communist China’s cultural revolution.” Then it gets spicy: realo accuses a rival of not knowing what “far” left or right even means. A nostalgic hilbert42 longs for the 1960s when professors weren’t afraid to speak freely, while nesk_ drops a bare archive link like a mic on the floor. The memes are rolling in: “RateMyProf: Snitch Edition,” “Big Brother with a GPA,” and “Syllabus SEO” for the win. Bottom line: some want sunlight, others see searchlights, and everyone’s recording everything.
Key Points
- •States including Texas, Ohio, and Florida passed laws requiring professors to post syllabi in searchable databases.
- •Texas created an office to receive complaints about colleges and professors.
- •In Oklahoma, a grading dispute publicized by Turning Point USA led to an instructor’s removal.
- •In Texas, a classroom recording on gender identity led to viral outrage and the instructor’s firing.
- •Conservative efforts to curb perceived liberal bias in classrooms have gained support in state legislatures and under the Trump administration’s focus on campus culture.