UT Austin to eliminate Black, Latino and women’s studies majors
TheGrio...
The university will stop enrolling new students in several race and gender-focused majors as faculty members raise concerns about censorship and the future of the programs.
The University of Texas at Austin is eliminating several majors focused on race and gender, despite a faculty proposal to preserve the programs.
According to KUT, the university plans to eliminate four majors: African and African Diaspora Studies, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, and Race, Indigeneity and Migration.
Danielle Pilar Clealand, interim chair of UT Austin’s Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, informed faculty of the decision in an email Tuesday, writing that the provost’s office had rejected the department’s proposal to preserve the majors.
University spokesperson Mike Rosen confirmed that UT is no longer enrolling new students in the African and African Diaspora Studies, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies majors. Students already enrolled in those programs will be permitted to complete their degrees.
The cuts follow a major restructuring announced earlier this year. In February, UT Austin revealed plans to consolidate several departments focused on race, ethnicity, and gender into a new Department of Social and Cultural Analysis.
At the time, university President Jim Davis said a review of the College of Liberal Arts had identified “some significant inconsistencies and fragmentation” among its departments.
The Texas Tribune reports that faculty were given just two weeks in August to submit recommendations for which majors should remain under the newly consolidated department.
Faculty proposed creating a new Social and Cultural Analysis major while retaining most of the existing majors, but university administrators rejected the proposal.
American Studies and Urban Studies will remain majors. College of Liberal Arts interim dean Daniel Brinks has suggested creating either a broader ethnic studies major or a Social and Cultural Analysis major with individual tracks.
For faculty members who teach in the affected programs, however, combining the fields is not the same as preserving them.
“Eliminating a major in this way is censorship. It is reducing what students are able to study,” professor Julie Minich, who teaches Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, told KUT.
Minich also argued that eliminating the programs could have consequences beyond the classroom by limiting opportunities for students preparing to enter careers that require an understanding of people from different racial, ethnic and gender backgrounds.
The decision is particularly significant at UT Austin, where scholars have played a role in the development of Mexican American studies as an academic discipline.
Faculty members also say they have received little explanation from university leadership about why the majors themselves need to disappear.
Lauren Gutterman, an associate professor in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, told KUT there had been no direct communication from the provost explaining the decision and said there was no evidence it was made in response to student demand.
The Texas Tribune reports that UT Austin did not provide an explanation for why administrators rejected the faculty proposal when asked about the decision.
The changes arrive amid a broader transformation of public higher education in Texas, where state leaders and university governing boards have increased oversight of academic programs and instruction.
Texas’ Senate Bill 17, which took effect in 2024, prohibited diversity, equity and inclusion offices and initiatives at public universities. Senate Bill 37, which became law in 2025, expanded the authority of governor-appointed university regents over academic programs, curriculum, faculty hiring and other university operations.
Teaching about race, gender, or sexuality, however, is not prohibited under state or federal law, according to the Texas Tribune.
The UT System Board of Regents has also approved policies that could have implications for programs like those being eliminated at UT Austin.
In May, regents approved a policy making it easier for university presidents to eliminate academic programs and faculty positions associated with them. Earlier this year, the board also adopted restrictions involving what it calls “controversial” material in the classroom, although the policy does not explicitly prohibit teaching about race, gender or sexuality.
Those developments have fueled concerns among some students and faculty that academic programs centered on those subjects are being increasingly squeezed.
For Gutterman, the immediate concern is what happens next.
She told KUT that eliminating the majors could make it harder for courses within those disciplines to attract enough students to be offered at all.
“Even what courses we will be able to offer next semester is unclear at this point,” Gutterman said.