University of Texas professors demand reversal of job cuts from shuttered DEI initiative

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A group of professors demand that the University of Texas reverse course on job cuts this week related to the shutdown of a diversity, equity and inclusion program impacted by one of the nation’s most sweeping bans on such initiatives. Officials at the 52,000-student university, one of the largest college campuses in the U.S., have not said how many jobs were eliminated. University President Jay Hartzell told the campus in a letter this week that additional measures will be taken to comply with the state’s new law. He said the university plans to shut down its Division of Campus and Community Engagement, which houses programs that support student learning and community building.

Hartzell’s announcement also said associate and assistant deans who focused on DEI initiatives would return to their full-time faculty jobs and positions for staff who supported them would no longer be funded.

The school’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors has estimated that 60 people in DEI roles at the campus were let go but have not said how it arrived at that number. In a letter sent Thursday, the group argued that the cuts violated employees’ rights to academic freedom, due process and freedom of expression. It also criticized what it called a lack of transparency about how decisions were made and why input from faculty council was not taken into account.

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