A university in Texas has begun massive staff layoffs months after a statewide ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public colleges took effect.
State Sen. Brandon Creighton, a Republican, warned Texas university system administrators last week about the state’s expectations for higher education institutions to comply with Senate Bill 17, an anti-DEI law that went into effect in January. Now, the University of Texas at Austin has laid off at least 60 staff members who previously worked in DEI-related positions, two people with knowledge of the terminations, who confirmed them to the Austin American-Statesman, part of the USA TODAY Network.
The decision is yet another escalation in the mounting attacks on programs that benefit marginalized groups in higher education. In red states like Texas and Florida, anti-DEI laws have shuttered safe spaces for LGBTQ students in the past year and triggered fears that professors and students would flee to more liberal states.
The University of Texas has not confirmed to the Statesman the number of staff positions that have been eliminated or how many employees will be laid off. But on Tuesday afternoon, one of the people with knowledge of the terminations said at least 60 people lost their jobs, 40 of them in the Division of Campus and Community Engagement alone. The layoffs become effective in 90 days or more, people familiar with the terminations told the Statesman. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the terminations publicly. UT did not respond to a Statesman request for comment.
Read more:DEI lives to fight another day at the University of Wyoming
UT Austin is also closing the Division of Campus and Community Engagement, previously known as the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement. President Jay Hartzell said in an email to the UT community on Tuesday afternoon, which was obtained by the Statesman, that although the school made changes before Jan. 1 to comply with SB 17, “we knew that more work would be required to utilize our talent and resources most effectively in support of our teaching and research missions, and ultimately, our students.”
More:What UT lost with SB 17: American-Statesman’s guide to changes due to Texas’ anti-DEI law
“The new law has changed the scope of some programs on campus, making them broader and creating duplication with long-standing existing programs supporting students, faculty, and staff,” Hartzell said. “Following those reviews, we have concluded that additional measures are necessary to reduce overlaps, streamline student-facing portfolios, and optimize and redirect resources into our fundamental activities of teaching and research.”
Hartzell said the remaining programs will be redistributed among other divisions. He said funding that previously supported DEI initiatives will now be redirected to “support teaching and research.” Student support, however, will be available for the rest of the semester.
“The positions that provided support for those associate and assistant deans and a small number of staff roles across campus that were formerly focused on DEI will no longer be funded,” Hartzell said.
More:‘Exhausted’, ‘confused,’ ‘unprecedented’: Texas professors, students reflect on DEI ban
Hartzell added in his email that the Division of Student Affairs will work to ensure student-facing support lasts through the rest of the semester as do student workers’ positions, and that “staff members whose positions are being eliminated will have the opportunity to apply and be considered for existing open positions at the University, and resources will be made available to support them.”
The university did not clarify how many or which programs and positions have been eliminated. University officials at seven other University of Texas campuses did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday about whether they had taken or planned to take similar action.
DEI on campus: Attacks continue nationwide
In recent years, conservatives have centered their disdain for diversity, equity and inclusion programs in their approach to higher education policy.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, more than 80 DEI-related bills have been introduced since 2023 in state legislatures nationwide, largely aimed at dismantling such programs. About two dozen of those bills have either become law or were given a final legislative stamp of approval.
Nowhere have DEI programs been more jeopardized than Florida and Texas. Republican governors in both states signed strict laws preventing taxpayer dollars from going toward certain positions or training tailored to help marginalized groups succeed on campus.
Why are changes influenced by SB 17 still being made?
In Texas, SB 17 bans DEI offices, initiatives and employees from fulfilling those functions at Texas public universities and colleges. In Creighton’s March 26 letter to university system chancellors and boards of regents, he expressed disappointment that some colleges might just be changing office names and titles as part of their compliance, and he cautioned that “this letter should serve as notice that this practice is unacceptable.” He warned administrators that lawmakers could take legal action and even freeze state funding for their institutions if they do not fully comply with SB 17.
“Recognized as the most robust DEI prohibition in the nation, this bill mandates a fundamental shift in the operation of our higher education institutions,” Creighton said in his letter.
Read more:Emotions run high as Nebraska becomes latest state caught in crosshairs of DEI initiatives
A UT department chair who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the terminations publicly told the Statesman that they were contacted by their dean Tuesday morning to notify them that an employee in the department would be terminated. That employee, according to the chair, had previously worked in a DEI-related role but was reassigned to a new position and duties as part of the school’s compliance with SB 17.
A sophomore who also works in the dean’s office told The Daily Texan, the campus newspaper, on Tuesday she learned secondhand that her job had been axed.
“We had an event today, so I texted my boss and I said ‘Hello, where in the Union are we meeting?’” Taizon Walker told the Daily Texan. “She said, ‘Our job has been dissolved today.’”
In previous communications about the anti-DEI law, Hartzell assured the community that the school would continue to support all students while complying with the law. From December until this week, Hartzell did not address the university community about the school’s continued efforts to comply with SB 17. On Tuesday when he announced the Division of Campus and Community Engagement was shutting down.
‘Y’all are taking away lifesaving services’
UT Austin senior Bibi Macias, a first-generation college student involved in student agencies previously housed in the now-shuttered Multicultural Engagement Center, said the news of staff members losing their jobs and as well as the Division of Campus and Community Engagement (formerly Diversity and Community Engagement Division) closing is “disgusting.”
“Heartbreaking and devastating don’t begin to cover my feelings about it,” Macias said. “Y’all are taking away lifesaving services.”
As a first-generation student, Macias said, the Community Engagement Division has been an important resource for her. She said its support had a drastic impact on students’ experience and comfort on campus. But she also worries about the staff members, who have dedicated so much to supporting students.
“They’re messing with people’s lives,” Macias said.
Students and professors have accused the university of overcomplying with the law – UT has shut down programs like Monarch, which helped undocumented students navigate school applications, internships and financial aid; and shuttered the Multicultural Engagement Center, which served as a “home away from home” for students of multiple multicultural identities and was open to everyone. They’ve argued that SB 17 and the university’s compliance with it is creating a chilling effect on recruitment and retention – Macias fears it will affect graduation rates for marginalized student groups.
Some conservative lawmakers, who have celebrated ending DEI programs at universities and colleges, have said the Legislature’s work to end “woke” policies, or identity politics, at institutions of higher learning is not finished.
UT, like all public universities, went through drastic changes in the weeks and months leading up to SB 17’s Jan. 1 effective date. In December, UT announced it was replacing its Gender and Sexuality Center with the Women’s Community Center, shifting the center’s focus from LGBTQ+ issues to gender-related matters.
“With its depth, breadth and extraordinary expertise, the Division of Campus and Community Engagement will continue to distinguish UT Austin as uniquely capable of meeting the demands of a rapidly changing campus, state and world,” LaToya Smith, vice president of campus and community engagement, said in an email to the school community in December about the division’s changes. “We are here for all.”
Macias, who is involved in the QTBIPOCA and Latinx Community Affairs student agencies that lost UT sponsorship before Jan. 1, said SB 17 creates more pressure for students to create and maintain safe spaces for historically underrepresented and marginalized peoples. Macias’s younger sister, a UT freshman, won’t have the resources she did, she said.
“How do we survive as these institutions within UT?” Macias asked.
