![Around 82 bills against DEI in educational institutions have been filed in more than 20 states since last year. Credit: Christine Vo [The Shorthorn, University of Texas at Arlington]](https://i0.wp.com/defendernetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/6443040264908.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
“SB 17 is a lie, DEI is justified!” chanted dozens of students at the University of Texas in Austin during a rally.
At the “Rally for our UT,” the Texas State Employees Union, local leaders and students are protesting against Senate Bill 17, the controversial state ban on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices in public universities, and the recent changes on campus.
The UT Chapter of the American Association of University Professors, Texas Students for DEI, Austin Justice Coalition, Texas Students for DEI, Underpaid at UT, Trans Texas and Students for a Democratic Society were listed as participating groups, according to the Austin American Statesman.
“What we have to understand is that all the empirical research says that indeed, diversity makes us all better,” Regent Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP, said while addressing the rally. “The people who eliminated DEI with SB 17 did not understand this. Not only are minority students hindered by this improvident action by the university and by the state of Texas but military students, rural students and LGBTQ students are negatively impacted by the lack of foresight at the university.”
Earlier in April, 20 staff members were laid off at the University of Texas at Dallas.
In a letter, UTD president Richard C. Benson said, “Our actions ensured that we were fully compliant with SB 17 as of January 1, 2024, the effective date of the legislation. Since then, we have continued to evaluate our SB 17 response.”
“A limited number of functions will be moved to other administrative units to ensure continuity of services to our students, faculty and staff,” he said further. “Employees whose positions are being eliminated may apply for any open position at UT Dallas, and I encourage hiring managers to give these experienced and talented individuals careful review when making their hiring decisions.”
Last year, Benson told The Dallas Morning News that “no one will lose a job at UTD” due to the DEI ban.
Moreover, Texas A&M University closed its Office of Diversity last year and reassigned staff positions that were employed by the office. At the University of Houston, its LGBTQ+ Resource Center and Center for Diversity and Inclusion were closed, and the Center for Student Advocacy and Community opened. The university cited the accordance with SB 17 for these closures.
Around 82 bills against DEI in educational institutions have been filed in more than 20 states since last year, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
How Black staffers were affected
According to records obtained by the Houston Chronicle, the layoffs at UT Austin affected mostly women and people of color. Among them were the head of its women’s center, the director of the Office of the Vice President for Campus and Community Engagement, and the director of the Fearless Leadership Institute, a program designed to provide resources and networking to Black women on campus.
Nearly a third of the laid-off staffers were Black, while Black employees comprise only 7%, barring tenured faculty, of the total staff at the university. Three out of four of these employees were women.
What led to the protests on campus
The school handed pink slips to nearly 60 employees in DEI-related jobs earlier in April. During a virtual faculty council meeting conducted by UT Austin president Jay Hartzell, around 200 students disrupted the proceedings to oppose the decision. Upon logging on to the meeting, Hartzell and other university officials saw students sharing black backgrounds with this sign in red: “No DEI = Not Our Texas.”
Prior to the rally, 539 University of Texas faculty members, comprising 16% of UT faculty, signed a letter of no confidence against President Hartzell for the school’s police response to pro-Palestinian protests on campus and the April 2 terminations.
Another letter from students, staff, and alumni to Hartzell, Vice President for Legal Affairs Amanda Cochran, and Texas state Senator Brandon Creighton stated:
“The integrity of our campus has been compromised by the lack of transparency and over-compliance executed by UT Austin administration. As the head of these efforts, President Hartzell has not only devalued the prestige of a UT Austin degree, but he has also violated the trust between himself and our campus community when he decided to prioritize legislative agendas over student and staff success.”
Hartzell said in an email, “I recognize that strong feelings have surrounded SB 17 from the beginning,” adding that the university’s focus was compliance by Jan. 1, and the terminations were due to the university reorganizing before the senate bill went into effect. He also said student workers will be able to keep their jobs in these offices until the end of the semester and laid-off staff members can reapply for open positions at the university.
Per ajoint letter from the Texas Conference of the American Association of University Professors and the Texas NAACP, the offices these 60 employees worked in will close down by May 31st. Among them, 40 people who were laid off were with the Division of Campus and Community Engagement (DCCE), formerly the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement.
In compliance with SB 17, these staff members were given other responsibilities and had been moved to new offices. Therefore, at the time of layoffs, none of them were associated with their DEI jobs.
“…these terminations clearly are intended to retaliate against employees because of their previous association with DEI and speech that they exercised prior to their current assignments,” the letter read.
Professors from UT Austin’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors wrote to Hartzell, demanding that those affected by the layoffs get their jobs back and the DCCE be restored. They claimed that the termination of staff for their “previous lawful association with DEI initiatives is discriminatory and infringes on their freedom of expression.” The Texas Legislative Black Caucus also condemned the decision.
Citing compliance, a DCCE unit, which hosts initiatives like the University Interscholastic League, UT Elementary School, and Disability and Access, was eliminated. The programs will be distributed to other campus units. Previously, the university reported to the Legislature that it was necessary to show students belonging to varied backgrounds that attending UT was not unattainable.
“Given that DCCE had already been modified to comply with SB 17, it’s dismantling appears to be an inappropriate and unnecessary response to SB17,” the letter said, adding that the cuts to the unit are “racial and ethnic discrimination.”
The shuttering of the Multicultural Engagement Center (MEC) impacted Black Graduation, Latinx Graduation, and GraduAsian ceremonies as well.
AAUP, Texas NAACP, and other affiliated organizations vowed to “continue to gather information on these precipitous terminations,” which they believed were “potential attacks on First Amendment freedoms.”
The firings followed Senator Brandon Creighton, the law’s author’s expectations on how universities can comply with SB 17. In a letter penned in March, he said the bill “mandates a fundamental shift in the operation of our higher education institutions,” expecting public universities to ensure “a merit-based environment where every student, faculty, and staff member can strive for and achieve personal excellence.”
He has planned a meeting this month to assess DEI compliance. During the Senate Committee on Education hearing in May, universities must be prepared to “present its progress in overseeing and implementing SB 17,” the letter read. Failing to do so, could lead to “stringent enforcement provisions,” such as the potential freezing of university funding and legal ramifications for non-compliance.
The two sides
While students and staff members protested against the terminations related to the DEI ban, several people took to social media to celebrate the decision.
“Under the guise of “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” DEI efforts have only served to undermine our academic institutions, reducing students and staff to ideological labels and quotas rather than rewarding them based on hard work and personal merit. DEI has not eradicated discrimination as it promised; it has established an entirely new structure to perpetuate it, and the resulting discord and division have been detrimental to places like my alma mater,” Republican Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan wrote on Twitter.
He added that he was “proud” to pass the legislation that prohibits DEI initiatives at higher education institutions in the Texas House.
“Go Woke, Go Broke! UT Austin Fired Scores of DEI-Affiliated Personnel,” NewsBusters.org, a media organization, wrote on Facebook. Most users who commented on the post welcomed the news.
On the other hand, some stand in stark contrast to this stance.
“Diversity is the epicenter of Texas, but some Texas universities don’t seem to think so. CNN speaks with UT students about the aftermath effects of of SB-17 and many say that cultural programs are struggling to say afloat, but UT’s new school of Civic Leadership sees no issues or negative effects of the aftermath,” reported D’Angelo Colter from the nonprofit media organization Progress Texas.
