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8h ago

UT Austin Removes Several Ethnic and Gender Studies Majors for New Students

The provost has directed faculty to create a single consolidated major, a move tied to new regents' rules that give campus leaders broader power to close programs.

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A view of the UT Tower from the business building on the UT-Austin campus during finals week on April 28, 2025.
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Overview

  • The provost's office this week rejected faculty proposals to keep separate majors and told the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis to design one consolidated major for undergraduate students.
  • New applicants for fall 2027 can no longer select majors including African and African Diaspora Studies, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, Women’s, Sexualities and Gender Studies, and Race, Indigeneity and Migration on UT’s admissions form.
  • University officials said current students in the affected majors will be allowed to finish their degrees while the final curriculum, staffing and course plans for the consolidated major remain unresolved.
  • Faculty warned the cuts will reduce course availability, harm recruitment and academic visibility, and criticized opaque communication after the majors were removed without a public announcement.
  • The changes follow a May policy shift by the UT Board of Regents and mirror recent actions at other Texas schools that have curtailed race, ethnicity and gender programs, raising the possibility of legal and political challenges.