Texas ban on university diversity efforts provides a glimpse of the future across GOP-led states

Austin, Texas — The dim lighting and vacant offices were the first clues.

Other changes affected Nina Washington, a senior at the University of Texas, when she returned to her favorite study spot after winter break. The words “Multicultural Center” had been taken from the wall, erasing an effort that began in the late 1980s to serve historically marginalized communities on campus. The center staff had disappeared, the student groups disbanded.

“Politics, behavior and emotions are returning to the old ways,” said Washington, who as a black woman found a sense of community central.

The void at the heart of the nearly 52,000-student campus is one of many changes happening on college campuses across Texas, where one of the most sweeping bans on diversity, equity and inclusion went into effect Jan. 1.

At least five other states have passed their own bans, and Republican lawmakers in at least 19 states are pursuing various restrictions on diversity initiatives, an issue they hope will mobilize their voters this election year.

With more than 600,000 students enrolled at more than 30 public universities across the state, the Texas rollout offers a large-scale look at what lies ahead for public higher education without the initiatives designed to make minorities feel less isolated and white students better prepared for a career. which requires effective collaboration with people from different backgrounds.

At the flagship campus of the University of Texas at Austin, the state’s second most populous public university, only 4.5% of the student population is black and 25.2% is Hispanic. This number, according to some students, will drop as they struggle to adapt in an atmosphere of fear. about what they can say and do.

The law, signed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott, prohibits public institutions of higher education from influencing hiring practices with respect to race, gender, color or ethnicity, and prohibits promoting “differential” or “preferential” treatment or “special” benefits for people based on these laws. categories. Also prohibited are training and activities conducted “with regard to race, color, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation.”

Republican Sen. Brandon Creighton, author of the bill, said in an emailed comment Tuesday that DEI’s efforts claim they are intended to increase diversity, “but after further investigation, they are an attempt to inject politics and promote the cancel culture in our colleges. and universities.”

Time will tell. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, whose nine members are appointed by the governor, is required to update lawmakers every two years on the impact of the ban on admissions, academic progress and graduation rates of students by race, gender and ethnicity.

To comply with the law, the cultural identity centers that admissions offices promoted to attract minorities are now closed. University websites have removed references to “diversity” and “inclusion” and replaced them with “access” and “community engagement.” Staff have been transferred to new roles.

“People want to keep their jobs, but many of us were trained to do this work around diversity, inclusion and equity and were hired specifically to do that,” said Patrick Smith, vice president of the Texas Faculty Association.

Professors are scared, editing their syllabi and watching their speech, pushing the boundaries of compliance, Smith said.

As for the multicultural center in the student union on the Austin campus, the university said it will consider how to best use the space “to continue building a community for all Longhorns.”

While the law explicitly exempts academics, uncertainty about its scope also leaves professors and students wondering how to comply.

“To know that your speech is being monitored and essentially censored when you do the kind of work that I do, it’s a strange feeling,” said Karma Chavez, a professor of Mexican American and Latino/a Studies at the university.

The Hispanic Faculty Association, of which Chavez is co-chairman, is prohibited from meeting during work hours or using campus spaces without paying a fee. They can’t even communicate via university email, and groups affiliated with the university can’t co-sponsor events with them.

The boundaries cause Chavez to catch herself in meetings or when mentoring a student before speaking about race or ethnicity, unsure of what she can say and when.

“I don’t think I’m self-censoring, I think I’ve been censored by the state legislature,” Chavez said.

University officials closed a group focused on providing resources to students eligible for the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Chavez said the DACA group did not specifically help classify people, so “it tells you how broadly, how comprehensively they are interpreting the law.”

Some student groups whose university funding is prohibited are struggling with the financial burden of maintaining their identity communities and continuing cultural traditions.

University of Texas senior Christian Mira, chief financial officer for the Queer Trans Black Indigenous People Of Color Agency, said the group has lost its space in the multicultural center and has been aggressively raising money through alumni, local supporters and community activities. They hope to continue supporting a vibrant community of students with signature events including a block party, leadership institutes and a prom, although they are not sure where.

“College is already a difficult experience, so having people around you that you depend on to have that kind of community – it made students feel safe, it made students feel like they could be successful on campus,” Mira said.

Alexander De Jesus, who attends UT-Dallas and is an advocate with Texas Students for DEI, said they have been preparing for months in ways big and small, such as more clearly advertising that anyone can use a closet of clothes often visited by students who are in transition.

“It was also stressful to tell other students, ‘Hey, keep your head up,’” De Jesus said. “It’s hard to say when you see a climate of fear developing and when you see people who are rightfully angry about traditional pathways or politics, or people who don’t listen to them.”