As students came back from the weekend last week, many preparing to register for their summer and fall 2025 classes, an email landed in inboxes that quietly, but significantly, reshaped the undergraduate experience at UT Austin.
The message from the Office of the Provost announced the immediate end of the Skills and Experience Flag requirements, longstanding components of every student’s degree plan. With just a few sentences, a system that had been part of UT’s academic structure for nearly two decades was gone.
What may seem like a technical update in course planning is actually a much bigger shift. The removal of the Flags doesn’t just mark the end of some graduation checkboxes—it reflects a changing vision of what a college education should include and, more importantly, what it no longer has to include.
Whether students are relieved, confused, or concerned, the message is clear: UT’s curriculum is evolving, and it’s doing so in step with a wave of national changes redefining higher education, which are often shaped as much by politics as by pedagogy.
What Were the Flags, Anyway?
The Skills and Experience Flags were introduced in 2006 after years of planning by the Commission of 125 and the Task Force on Curricular Reform. They were meant to supplement a student’s major with essential cross-disciplinary skills that today’s employers and global society demand. Students had to complete courses in:
- Writing (2–3 classes, depending on major)
- Ethics
- Cultural Diversity in the United States
- Global Cultures
- Quantitative Reasoning
- Independent Inquiry
Unlike electives, these weren’t optional. Every student had to complete at least one course in each category.
In theory, the Flags ensured that all students, regardless of major, left UT with a broad skill set: how to write and research effectively, think ethically, work with data, and engage with diverse cultures and ideas.
But in practice? Some students appreciated the chance to explore fields outside their major—STEM majors taking humanities courses, liberal arts majors confronting quantitative analysis. Others found the system confusing, with advising inconsistencies and difficulty identifying which courses met which Flags. Some students could fulfill most Flags within their major, while others found themselves reshuffling schedules or delaying graduation. Other students struggled to identify what actually counted, often enrolling in classes just to meet a requirement rather than out of genuine interest.
So, Why Eliminate Them Now?
David Vanden Bout, UT’s interim vice president and provost, said the decision was based on a desire to innovate and give individual colleges more control over their degree programs. A new Comprehensive Learner’s Record is expected to launch in Fall 2026. This new model shifts away from Flags toward six general “competencies,” many of which still reflect core Flag values, such as:
- Communication
- Creativity and Innovation
- Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
- Quantitative and Empirical Research
- Leadership, Ethics, and Collaboration
- Global Awareness and Social Engagement
Sounds familiar, right? But here’s the catch: the specific Flags for Cultural Diversity and Global Cultures have been removed. Their replacement, “Global Awareness and Social Engagement,” is broader and more ambiguous—and it’s not yet clear how or if topics related to race, ethnicity, or marginalized identities will be incorporated. However, it is important to note that there is still not much information yet about what this program will entail, how it will be incorporated, and how similar it will be to the Flags program.
The Bigger Context: Politics and Policy
This change is unfolding against a backdrop of major political pressure. In 2023, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 17, a law that bans public universities from engaging in DEI-related programming. The bill also prohibits institutions from offering special benefits, events, or hiring practices based on race, ethnicity, or gender.
In response, UT:
- Ended funding for cultural graduation ceremonies such as Black Graduation and Lavender Graduation
- Renamed the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement to the Division of Campus and Community Engagement
And that’s just to name a few.
These weren’t just administrative changes—they were the dismantling of community infrastructure that many students relied on for belonging, identity, and support.
Now, the elimination of Flags, especially those tied to ethics, diversity, and global learning, feels like part of the same wave. And UT isn’t alone. Across the country, universities are scrubbing diversity-related terms from websites, rebranding departments, and eliminating DEI offices entirely under pressure from both state laws and the federal government.
What We Lose (and What We Still Need)
According to a 2015 national employer survey, communication skills, critical thinking, ethical decision-making, and intercultural knowledge ranked among the most valued attributes in new hires. These were the very foundations upon which the Flag system was built.
Removing the Flags doesn’t mean these skills are suddenly irrelevant. It just means they’re no longer guaranteed.
Without these structured requirements, the risk is that students may miss out on the kinds of classes that encourage deep, interdisciplinary thinking. For many of us, those courses pushed us out of our comfort zones—where we learned to understand perspectives different from our own, questioned the ethics of the systems we live in, and figured out how to write, speak, and lead more intentionally.
The university says it still encourages departments to include these competencies in their programs, and core curriculum requirements from the State of Texas (like U.S. History and Visual & Performing Arts) remain in place. But the burden now falls on students and faculty to seek out or offer these experiences intentionally.
Looking Ahead
In the same message from the Office of the Provost to the campus community, Provost Vanden Bout wrote, “It is our responsibility as an institution of higher education to evaluate our curriculum regularly… and offer students choices based on their individual goals.” But that flexibility comes with responsibility. Without centralized standards like the Flags, much more will depend on students’ initiative and on faculty and departments to protect the value of a holistic education.
The stakes are high. Across the country, universities are navigating federal pressure to cut diversity programs, and some are facing threats to their funding for failing to comply. It’s hard not to see UT’s recent decisions as part of that larger pattern.
As a public university, UT stands especially vulnerable to political influence and threats to funding. But the very resources and learning experiences now being scaled back are what UT has long claimed as part of its identity—a world-class education grounded in curiosity, complexity, and critical thought.
At first, I was even excited about the change. I had completed most of my Flags through my major, except one—Quantitative Reasoning. I’ve always struggled with math, but I knew the requirement would push me to take a class I’d normally avoid. And honestly, I needed that. We all do, no matter our majors. As a history major, I still need data literacy and analytical thinking. A business major needs a foundation in ethics. A pre-med student benefits from understanding global cultures. These classes weren’t just requirements—they were tools to help us navigate the career, the world we’re stepping into.
So yes, it’s easier to register for classes now. But as we move forward, we should also ask: what kind of education do we want to defend? And are we okay if the answer becomes something smaller, narrower, and less inclusive than before?