Following threats made by state lawmakers to universities not in full compliance with the controversial SB 17, the University of Texas at Austin announced that they would fire 60 more employees holding positions related to diversity and inclusion. The university announced the closure of the Division of Campus and Community Engagement (DCCE).
According to the Austin American-Statesman, the firings are a response to a letter from Senator Brandon Creighton to UT System chancellors and boards of regents, in which Creighton threatens to freeze state funding to universities that do not fully comply with SB 17.
This extreme action has led many faculty and staff at UT Austin to accuse the university of overcorrecting regarding the enforcement of SB 17 on campus. According to the Austin American-Statesman, vital university programs such as Monarch — which assisted undocumented students with navigating various education and employment opportunities — and the Multicultural Engagement Center have been permanently closed due to UT’s response to SB 17.
In protest of the announcement of the closure of the DCCE, students at UT Austin began posting flyers reading “#NOTOURTEXAS” on notable landmarks around campus. This was part of a public demonstration organized by the #NOTOURTEXAS movement, which aims to combat the implementation of SB 17 in Texas. By the next morning, few posters remained on campus as most had been taken down by the university.
The firings and the closure of the DCCE announced by UT Austin are just the beginning of a rapid shift in higher education in the state of Texas. The complete implementation of SB 17 will be detrimental to the success of students overall and will only serve to oppress underrepresented populations within Texas’ higher education system. As citizens, we cannot let this oppressive law continue to degrade the quality of our state’s universities. Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives only serve to improve the quality of Texas universities, and their ban is a severe loss to secondary education.
