Texas university leaders say hundreds of positions, programs cut to comply with DEI ban

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas universities eliminated or changed hundreds of jobs in recent months in response to one of the nation's most sweeping bans on diversity programs on college campuses, school officials told lawmakers Tuesday.

In the fullest public accounting of the new Texas law to date, the head University of Texas system announced that its nine academic and five health campuses alone had cut 300 full- and part-time positions. Those campuses combined also did away with more than 600 programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion training.

"You may not like the law, but it is the law,” University of Texas Systems Chancellor James Milliken said.

Milliken was one of several chancellors who GOP state senators called to the Texas Capitol to testify on how campuses are complying with the law signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott last year. Texas is among about one-third of states across the nation that have taken steps to limit or prohibit DEI initiatives and practices.

Republican state Sen. Brandon Creighton, in a letter to chancellors in March, said he was concerned that some campuses were trying to skirt the law or find loopholes, such as renaming employing titles or campus offices.

“This letter should serve as a notice that this practice is unacceptable,” Creighton wrote in the letter.

Republican lawmakers in about two dozen states have filed bills seeking to restrict DEI initiatives this year, according to an Associated Press analysis using the legislation-tracking software Plural. Meanwhile, Democrats have sponsored measures supporting DEI in at least 20 states.

Last month, the flagship University of Texas campus in Austin — one of the largest campuses in the U.S. — announced the closure of the school's Division of Campus and Community Engagement and...