UT Dallas Closing Its Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Under New State Legislation

A bill signed by Gov. Greg Abbott over the summer that clamps down on diversity programs on college campuses is about to go into effect, and the University of Texas at Dallas is prepping for its implementation.

Texas Senate Bill 17, which Abbott signed in June, officially starts with the New Year, so UT Dallas announced on its social media on Saturday that it will close its Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) on Sunday, Dec. 31. The following day, the university will replace its DEI offices with the newly named Office of Campus Resources and Support in accordance with the bill's new guidelines.

"The new law prohibits publicly funded institutions in Texas from maintaining diversity, equity and inclusion offices and related activities," the statement reads. "This includes [the] UT Dallas Multicultural Center."

SB 17 prohibits public universities from establishing or running a DEI office or hiring employees to "perform the duties of a [DEI] office." It also prohibits universities from giving preference "on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin" to any employees or students of Texas universities, according to the bill's language.

UT Dallas is the latest public college in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to close or change its DEI policies. The University of North Texas announced the end of its DEI office in August, becoming the first university in the state to respond to the new requirements set by SB 17. UNT started reassigning employees in the DEI office to other departments on Aug. 13, according to a released statement.

The University of Texas at Arlington announced the dismantling of its DEI offices in September. UTA also announced it would rename its Office of Talent, Culture and Inclusion to the Office of Talent, Culture and Engagement in response to SB 17, according to the university student newspaper, The Shorthorn.

The implementation of SB 17 was met with harsh criticism from civil rights groups as the bill made its way through the Legislature onto Gov. Abbott's desk. THE NAACP's Legal Defense Fund issued a statement last May when the Texas Senate passed the bill calling it a "misguided measure [that] would be devastating for generations of Texas from all backgrounds.

"If enacted, SB 17 will undermine the ability of educators and administrators to create a diverse and welcoming campus and threaten the quality of higher education in Texas as a whole," the statement reads. "This legislation threatens to eliminate critical tools still needed to advance educational equity and will negatively impact student outcomes such as retention and graduation rates for Black students, Latinx students and students from other underrepresented communities."

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas released an op-ed last May predicting that SB 17 would "leave the door wide open to religious freedom to be used as a legal justification for discrimination" and make it easier for people on public college campuses who justify religious-based decisions "to get away with this selective discrimination.

"The irony of SB 17 is that it would not provide any meaningful extra protections for religious freedom — there already exist numerous laws that protect an individual's freedom to practice their religion such as the US Constitution and the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act," the op-ed reads. "Senate Bill 17 is simply using the guise of religious freedom to create a backdoor to discriminate, in many cases against people who already struggle with marginalization such as LGBTQ people or religious minorities."