Texas lawmakers signal plans to expand DEI ban into college classrooms

Texas lawmakers may be looking to expand the state’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at public colleges and universities when they convene in Austin next year.

The Republican-controlled Legislature approved a bill last year that prohibited DEI offices and programs at Texas universities and colleges. Senate Bill 17, which took effect Jan. 1, prompted changes at higher education institutions across the state.

The University of Texas System eliminated hundreds of programs, contracts and trainings, as well as more than 300 jobs. Dozens of those employees worked at UT Austin.

Still, state Sen. Brandon Creighton, a Republican from Conroe who authored SB 17, said there is more work to be done to ensure universities are complying with his legislation.

“While DEI-related curriculum and course content does not explicitly violate the letter of the law, it indeed contradicts its spirit,” he said during a Texas Senate Higher Education Subcommittee hearing last week. “The curriculum does not reflect the expectations of Texas taxpayers and students who fund our public universities.”

The hearing focused, in part, on one of the issues Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick directed the Senate to study ahead of the next legislative session: “Stopping DEI to Strengthen the Texas Workforce.” Patrick told senators to examine certificates and programs at public colleges and universities that incorporate “discriminatory” DEI policies. He said those types of policies are out of step with Texas’ workforce demands.

Creighton, who chairs the committee, echoed that sentiment during the hearing.

"Employers and the public value meritocracy, skills-based learning and civic education," he said. "It's our duty as legislators to equip our Texas public institutions of higher education with the mission to graduate the best and the brightest students with the knowledge and skills they need to be successful."

Creighton added public colleges and universities should be focused on achieving positive student outcomes, not "virtue-signaling" or "indoctrination."

"Our public institutions of higher education have a duty to uphold campus culture that encourages diverse voices, viewpoints and to build a trust among administration, faculty, staff and students — not to divide them," he said.

But the lone Democrat on the subcommittee, state Sen. Royce West of Dallas, challenged Creighton's and Patrick’s characterization of DEI policies as discriminatory. West said these types of initiatives have a broad and positive impact on a variety of demographic groups.

"As we look at compliance with Senate Bill 17, I want ... to also talk about the counterbalance to make certain that we don't follow these other states in losing opportunities for underrepresented populations," he said.

West added that eliminating DEI policies perpetuates racial and gender disparities that ultimately hurt workforce development, especially in a state as diverse as Texas.

Alejandro Peña, a government relations specialist and policy analyst with the Texas American Federation of Teachers, said he was also concerned about the impact of Republican-led efforts to further dismantle DEI policies within higher education. He said SB 17 was not supposed to impact the classroom, but that now seems to be on the table.

“We’re specifically concerned that there will be a concerted effort to expand the DEI prohibition in Senate Bill 17 to academic instruction and curriculum in the next legislative session,” he told KUT ahead of the hearing.

Peña also said Texans should be skeptical of the rhetoric lawmakers are using about DEI in higher education.

“The effort to prohibit so-called DEI programs and certificates isn't about alignment with state workforce demands,” he said. “It's an attempt to suppress critical and inclusive perspectives that some politicians disagree with.”

Students speak out against restrictions

Local college students also spoke out against efforts to further restrict DEI initiatives. UT Austin sophomore Genesis Britz testified the whole goal of DEI at the college level is to help students of different backgrounds feel supported and included.

“To aim to take away DEI, that is in itself, a form of excluding certain groups of people that have not always been welcome in the spaces of academia,” she said.

Britz said there is no upside to the DEI ban and that she has seen it alienate fellow students.

Kellis Levone Myers, a sophomore at Huston-Tillotson University, agreed. She said DEI programs help foster community and a sense of belonging.

“I think that translates into [students’] lives professionally and personally," she said. "So, I think this is really going to limit the amount of opportunities that people get, especially people that aren’t historically afforded those same opportunities as their white counterparts."

Britz said she is worried lawmakers are using concerns about workforce development to disguise efforts to regulate what students learn in their classes.

“It’s so evident that they are targeting [it] because of what the content is,” she said.

Curriculum changes without faculty input

The Texas Senate Higher Education Subcommittee hearing happened just days after the governor-appointed Texas A&M University Board of Regents directed its flagship institution to eliminate dozens of certificates and minors. That included an LGBTQ Studies minor that drew criticism from conservative activists and lawmakers. As The Texas Tribune reported, the board called for the elimination of the programs despite faculty opposition because they didn't have high enough enrollment according to new metrics administrators created.

Creighton praised the changes at Texas A&M on X and described it as a harbinger of what’s to come next session.

UT Austin Associate Professor and American Studies Chair Lauren Gutterman, who attended the hearing, said she is concerned about upper-level administrators making decisions about courses without faculty input.

Gutterman, who researches LGBTQ history, said she also rejects the idea that the LGBTQ Studies minor at A&M does not have value just because enrollment isn’t high. She said it helps students think critically about and analyze issues central to society.

“Trans rights, abortion, birth control, marriage — these are all issues that are central to political and cultural debate today,” she said.

Gutterman added she’s worried lawmakers want to limit faculty control over what they teach.

“I’m also really concerned that our state lawmakers are going to try and use the language of DEI and SB 17 to try and prohibit teaching about certain topics and constrain academic freedom,” she said.

Peña, with Texas AFT, said he also thinks academic freedom in higher education is going to be at stake during the next legislative session.

“The politicization of K-12 is an issue that I think a lot more people are familiar with and have exposure to, but we’ve seen that politicization extend into institutions of higher education,” he said. “We think this upcoming legislative session is likely to be tougher than any we’ve seen so far.”

Creighton, for his part, said more changes are needed at the college level to dismantle DEI even in the wake of SB 17, which he described as “the strongest ban on DEI in the nation.”

“While there has been significant progress, [last week's] hearing underscores the need for additional reforms to hold taxpayer-funded institutions to the highest standards to ensure that merit and achievement are prioritized,” he said in a statement after the hearing.

The 89th Legislature convenes in Austin on Jan. 14.

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