Note: All citations from Austin SDS, unless specified otherwise, were derived from their consolidation teach-in last Thursday, February 12, which was presented verbally and in-person. To protect the privacy of those attending, the main lecture of the teach-in was not recorded—only pictures were taken of the presentation slides. Austin SDS can be contacted at @austin.sds on Instagram.
Last Thursday at 10:59 A.M., David Sosa, the Interim Dean of the College of Liberal Arts (COLA), sent out an email with a message from Jim Davis, the President of UT. In the message, Davis announced the consolidation of seven COLA departments.
The affected departments and their consolidations are as follows:
The Department of French and Italian, the Department of Germanic Studies, and the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies will be consolidated into the Department of European and Eurasian Studies.
The Department of African and African Diaspora Studies, the Department of American Studies, the Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, and the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies will be consolidated into the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis.
Folks were quick to notice that the consolidated departments were only vaguely related to each other, with some of their respective studies being, literally, thousands of miles apart. Students can still pursue their current degree plans under these new departments, but the contents of the curricula are still up in the air. As for future semesters, UT has yet to announce what majors, minors, and courses will remain after consolidation.
In his message, Davis claimed the changes to COLA’s department structure were due to “significant inconsistencies and fragmentation across the college [of Liberal Arts]’s departments.” He specifically cited student-to-faculty ratios in COLA, stating that they “range from less than 2-to-1 to almost 60-to-1.” Davis said that “many subjects worthy of research and teaching do not necessarily need to be isolated as their own small academic departments.”
However, Dr. Mary Neuburger, a professor from the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies, asserts otherwise. In a quote provided by Austin SDS, she states, “The smaller departments give students a more specialized education and supplemental course offerings in other departments.”
The announcement came as a shock to everyone, students and faculty alike. “There hasn’t been a discourse among COLA faculty that there are problems in COLA that need to be solved”, says Dr. Julie Avril Minich, professor from the Department of English and the Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies. “Faculty are very concerned…that the University is spreading a false idea that faculty are engaged in indoctrination when, in fact, we’re not.”
However, if there’s anyone who isn’t surprised, it’s conservative politicians—they’ve been encroaching on UT’s academic freedom for the past 10 years.
Here’s what’s been going on:
Later that day, Austin SDS held a teach-in about UT’s plans to “consolidate” gender and ethnic studies.
Austin SDS presented their research at the teach-in, which found that conservatives first tried to infiltrate UT by founding the Liberty Institute in 2021, a think tank dedicated to “the study and teaching of individual liberty, limited government, private enterprise[,] and free markets”.
When faculty and student groups asked about their plans, everyone involved in the Institute’s founding only gave vague responses or stayed silent. Even the Texas Tribune had been “repeatedly denied interview requests…about the project’s intent, its budget, and who is involved.”
Jay Hartzell, the UT President at the time, had been discussing the idea of the Liberty Institute with donors and alumni since 2016, with at least one donor possibly pledging $8.5 million within the same year. Behind the project were figures such as Dan Patrick, Republican Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Bud Brigham, an oil company executive, and Bob Rowling, a conservative billionaire. Upon its founding in 2021, the Institute received promises of $6 million of state legislature funds, and another $6 million from UT officials.
Despite its support, the Liberty Institute failed to launch. Having infringed on another Texan conservative legal organization’s trademark, the Liberty Institute then changed its name to the Civitas Institute in 2022 and hired Justin Buckley Dyer as its director.
Dyer has described himself as “a conservative, straight out of central casting, a pro-life evangelical who is an unapologetic admirer of the American founding fathers and the U.S. Constitution.” Dyer is so conservative, in fact, that in his book, Slavery, Abortion, and the Politics of Consitutional Meaning, he argues that women who choose to have an abortion are like slave owners, Austin SDS finds.
Then in 2023, the School of Civic Leadership was approved by the UT System Board of Regents, which would house the Civitas Institute and be built based on its values. The School has received funding from conservative lawmakers and the UT System Board of Regents. At the time of its approval, Hartzell stated that the timeline for the School remained unclear.
Nonetheless, by 2024, Dyer was appointed dean of the School. Still, the School of Civic Leadership tried to maintain a veil of supposed neutrality—Ryan Streeter, Executive Director of Research and Publications at Civitas, told the Austin Chronicle that “research [at the School] is not going to be political.”
Then, last April, in the middle of registration, UT removed the flag system requirement for graduation. This removal was done in compliance with SB 37, as explained by Dr. Karma Chávez, a professor from the Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies. The system required students to take classes that, in total, provided the following 6 flags:
- Writing
- Ethics
- Cultural diversity in the United States
- Global cultures
- Quantitative reasoning
- Independent inquiry.
Most courses with flags were in COLA, and the flag system was attributed to most enrollment for many COLA courses. Flags required students outside of COLA to take classes that they wouldn’t have been incentivized to take otherwise. Since the removal of the flags, enrollment in COLA classes has decreased significantly, says Chávez.
Last December, UT announced plans to consolidate the School of Information with the College of Natural Sciences.
Following the announced plans, this January, UT announced the additional closure of 4 student support programs:
- The Office of Undergraduate Research, which connects undergraduates with research opportunities across campus.
- The Office of Community Engagement, which connects faculty and students with community partnerships.
- The Vick Advising Excellence Center, which provides non-major-specific advising, such as appointments for issues with core curriculum courses and major switching.
- The Center for Teaching and Learning, which curates effective learning and teaching methods by working with students and instructors.
Why are these changes significant to gender and ethnic studies?
Patrick has not only wanted to abolish tenure, which gives faulty academic freedom and protection from termination in most cases, but has also been against DEI and critical race theory. In a Tweet about the, then, Liberty Institute’s founding, he stated, “I will not stand by and let loony Marxist UT professors poison the minds of young students with Critical Race Theory.”
In an Instagram post, the Anna Julia Cooper Center for Civic Leadership and Austin SDS explain that the collapse of the affected departments into singular departments means:
- 4 votes (department chairs) that would represent the needs of Black, Latina/o, women, and queer students will be lost.
- Reviews for tenure and promotion will no longer be conducted by faculty in the fields in question.
- Graduate and PhD programs are at risk of being cut.
- Millions of dollars in funding, once allocated for gender and ethnic studies, will be lost.
On the other hand, the UT System has invested $100 million into the School of Civic Leadership just last May—a massive amount that is rare in the field of higher education, Austin SDS explains. With the coincidental timing of the aforementioned events, many suspect that UT intends to divert funding from gender and ethnic studies to the Civitas Institute.
Insider Insight from Dr. Karma Chávez
During the teach-in, Chávez emphasized that “[these] departments are being eliminated. It’s really important for [folks] to talk about it in this way… [the affected departments] will no longer exist.”
She notes that “[the departments being consolidated into The Department of European and Eurasian Studies] are basically being used as a political foil, so that the consolidation of ethnic and gender studies doesn’t look racist, transphobic, and sexist… and [said departments] are aware of that.”
Chávez further explained the political forces behind UT leadership. She stated that before SB 37, the UT System Board of Regents, which is appointed by the Governor, could only appoint the President of UT. However, after the bill passed in 2025, the Board of Regents gained influence in appointing the Provost (head of faculty and academic affairs) and Deans (heads of colleges and schools) of UT as well.
Chávez had spoken to Sosa and reported his statements regarding the eliminations. “[The process of elimination] will probably roll out over the course of a year and a half, so the full implementation of the 2 new departments will likely be September 2027… [Sosa] doesn’t think faculty are going to be fired, more than likely…He says he hopes that the staff is not going to be fired.”
Chávez boldly theorized that while Sosa claimed that he had “no authority” over the eliminations, she only partially believes him. “I don’t know if I fully believe him, because I think this whole consolidation might’ve been his idea, because he’s Interim Dean, right, which means he’s temporary. So it might be that this is the way he’s going to get the permanent job.”
While currently enrolled students can still complete their programs, Chávez warns that there’ll be a curriculum audit in the upcoming Fall semester. It’s unclear who will be conducting the audit or what its rubric will be.
Austin SDS provided a forecast for what the upcoming audit could entail. “We do know that audits have happened, and we understand the character of those audits; they’re actually not very sly about it. They’re auditing for mentions of gender in course materials. So, imagine that just applied to race as well, and any other critical lens that conservatives are afraid to talk about.”
Chávez confirmed the existence of a rumored consolidation committee and revealed the racism and sexism present in the committee. “There was a [consolidation] committee formed in the Fall, and that committee was appointed by associate Dean [of COLA] Dan Brinks, and he originally appointed the Chair of Classics, the Chair of Asian Studies, the Chair of Spanish and Portuguese—3 white men—Ted Gordon and Eric Tang from [African and African Diaspora Studies], and that was the committee. And then someone whispered in his ear, ‘It might look bad to have only 5 men on the committee.’ “
With that, Chávez reports that Dr. Lauren Gutterman, Chair of the Department of American Studies, was then appointed to the committee. Chávez noted that after the committee met, the 3 white male members of the committee didn’t get their departments consolidated, and that out of the 7 departments getting consolidated, only one of the affected departments, Dr. Lauren Gutterman, was on the consolidation committee.
Chávez also predicts that eventually, the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies and the Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies will have to move in with the rest of the departments they’re being fused with. This would result in the two departments losing the Gordon-White Building, despite the fact that the building was endowed specifically for Black studies.
Overall, Chávez affirms that there is “very clearly is no intellectual justification for [the consolidations].” There could have been good reasons for ethnic, gender, and American studies to all be in a single department if the relevant faculty members had power over that decision and its execution, but no intellectual justification has been given for the exclusion of said faculty from that decision. “There are absolutely no intellectual reasons for [The Department of European and Eurasian Studies]…it makes no sense, whatsoever.”
Chávez warns, “They’re saying this is about fragmentation, they’re saying it’s about efficiency, they’re saying ratios between students and instructors are too small. What they’re not saying publicly is that it’s politically motivated. I will say that has been uttered privately. Dan Brinks and one of the Deans on the [consolidation] committee did, in fact, say that.”
Nonetheless, Chávez remarks, “We all know, anyway, it’s politically motivated.”
So, What happens next?
In an exclusive interview with Her Campus, a faculty member from UT, who requested to remain anonymous, offered insight on the future of gender and ethnic studies.
In the interview, the faculty member agreed that UT, while referring to the changes as “consolidation”, was intentionally and effectively trying to discreetly eliminate the affected departments.
“There’s not much [the affected departments] can do. I mean, you can’t fight an institution…You can’t resist when you can’t successfully fight them.” They explained. “What the [affected departments] might likely do is comply…and most of the time, most faculty are most likely going to leave… unless they don’t have an offer on the table [to teach at another university]… Even if [they’re] leaving UT now, UT’s a very big school…if you’re moving from UT, you should move into a bigger school. You shouldn’t move to UT and then move into a lower-ranked university.” The faculty member acknowledges that if there are job offers from better universities for affected faculty, then there will be a possibility of brain drain from UT in the affected fields of study.
The faculty member states that those who stay behind and choose not to leave the university “will be heavily regulated, in a way that people are not likely…to teach things confidently.”
The faculty member predicts that affected departments are likely to remain patient and watch things unfold, as “nothing is permanent”—with a new administration, the departments might fully return.
Contingent faculty, or instructors who are only temporary or contract-based, are the most at risk of losing their positions, the faculty member warns. For example, most assistant professors are not tenured.
As for the case of tenured faculty in the affected departments, while they would still be subject to disciplinary action if they don’t comply with the University, the faculty member suspects that they might be able to argue against a change to their curricula, based on the contents of their tenure contract and the grounds that they were initially granted tenure on. Essentially, if the tenure committee accepted the tenured faculty in question on the grounds that the faculty would teach certain things, based on their past publications/studies/lines of thought, then the tenured faculty can make the argument that their pre-consolidation curricula are valid to stay.
But for the most part, faculty will only be able to engage in “micro-resistance”, they explain. “They can’t come out in the forefront by having a protest.”
Additionally, the faculty member notes that with UT’s prestige, “other institutions can use [UT’s consolidations] as a reference point”, especially considering that “the Black studies program in UT is the biggest in the whole of the US… so if that can be affected, it means that all the Black Studies programs in the country are at risk”, they explained. “It’s really, really insane.”
Nonetheless, the faculty member “strongly believe[s]… that its [all] a season; it’s a phase that will pass eventually. Things might come out [on top] again, and if [that doesn’t happen], people will always find a way to resist and to reaffirm their agency.” When asked, the faculty member finds their optimism in history itself. “When you study the history of black movement… You know, people have never given up…If you look historically, black people have faced a lot of challenges, and they keep bouncing back.”
As for changes to degree plans, the faculty member suspects that UT will “keep certain minors [in the affected departments], but rename the courses… they’re just going to remove anything that has to do with race, racism, all of those things” and replace them with vague terms such as “cultural” and “social.” The renaming might affect enrollment in said courses. “If keywords are changing, it also changes how you find classes.” The resulting increase in difficulty in finding courses with desired fields of study could affect enrollment, unless professors go out of their way to explain the courses with changed names.
Additionally, “If there is low enrollment [in a course], the department itself might cancel a course…[or] stop teaching it for a while.”
The faculty member offered advice for students. “People shouldn’t panic…the best thing to do is to acquire more knowledge, acquire more skills, and see how to use those skills as tools of resistance in a way that is more efficient, and then, you won’t get into so much trouble…people should focus on what they’re doing, what they’re learning, and reflect on these things that are happening. What do these things mean? What do these things represent?” The faculty member suggests that students look at how history has repeated itself in past moments and see how the people then achieved their goals. They say that students keep “following the rules”, but in a way that works in their favor and against the institution.
What can Students do?
One effective form of protest students can engage in right now is enrolling in classes, minors, certificates, or majors in the affected departments.
In another Instagram post, the Anna Julia Cooper Center for Civic Leadership and Austin SDS explain that UT has yet to provide academic advisors and course schedulers with any restrictions on enrollment in the affected departments. Freshmen and Sophomores have time to switch their major or declare a double major, and juniors and seniors can add a minor or certificate. At the very least, everyone can enroll in a course in one of the affected departments this semester.
These actions will signify demand to the University, with major switching and double-majoring having the highest impact. The anonymous faculty member states that high enrollment is “a huge argument.” They call it “an intelligent way to protest and say that “it’s going to speak volumes.”
Another way students can leverage their campus involvement, as presented at the Austin SDS teach-in, is by joining The Anna Julia Cooper Center for Civic Leadership, a working group that is not only “taking a jab at the Civic people,” but is also working on public-facing, impactful scholarship. Named after the mother of Black education feminism, the Anna Julia Cooper Center is looking for students who are either social-media savvy or research-savvy, so that they can provide historical context to the general public. “A lot of people hear what’s happening, but they don’t realize the impact of what’s happening, and what it’ll do to their everyday lives”, says Sydney, a current Women and Gender Studies Master’s student. The Anna Julia Cooper Center has conducted research on the effects of excluding race and gender from legal studies, the medical field, and education. They currently have a survey out asking folks what effects the changes in higher education have had on them.
In an email sent out later that Thursday to its students, Lisa L. Moore, chair of the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, wrote the following:
“I want to emphasize that no one is going anywhere. The transformative work of gender and ethnic studies in advancing knowledge and preparing students for lives of purpose will continue, as we face these challenges together.”