{"id":132358,"date":"2025-02-28T11:07:45","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T17:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2025\/02\/28\/texas-dei-ban-universities-funding\/"},"modified":"2025-02-28T11:07:45","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T17:07:45","slug":"texas-dei-ban-universities-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2025\/02\/28\/texas-dei-ban-universities-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Republican senators threaten not to boost Texas public universities\u2019 funding over DEI ban"},"content":{"rendered":"Sign up for The Brief<\/a>, The Texas Tribune\u2019s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.<\/em>\n

Republican state senators are threatening not to increase state funding for public universities over accusations they have failed to fully comply with a law that required them to shutter their diversity, equity and inclusion offices.<\/p>

State Sens. Brandon Creighton<\/a> and Paul Bettencourt<\/a> wrote in a letter to the governing boards of every public university in the state on Wednesday that they have found several schools in violation of the law.<\/p>

\u201cThis includes renaming, relaunching or reauthorizing a DEI unit under the guise of a different name,\u201d the letter said. \u201cWe have found this to be the case in numerous instances, particularly at our health-related institutions.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cTherefore, due to these valid findings of noncompliance, requests for increases in state funds for all public institutions of higher education this legislative session are now frozen at levels from the previous biennium,\u201d the senators wrote, adding they expect the universities to \u201cprovide clear and indisputable evidence that DEI programming has been fully eliminated from the operations of all your member institutions.\u201d<\/p>

Reference<\/h4>
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Read state Sens. Brandon Creighton and Paul Bettencourt’s letter to public universities Download<\/span><\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>

The letter did not name the institutions that allegedly violated the law. Bettencourt also did not say which universities allegedly violated the law during a brief phone interview with The Texas Tribune on Friday, only noting that Creighton \u201chas some reports.\u201d<\/p>

Neither Creighton, R-Conroe, nor Bettencourt, R-Houston, have unilateral authority to withhold state funds, but they serve on committees that are drafting higher education policy and the state\u2019s budget. Sen. Joan Huffman<\/a>, a Houston Republican who chairs the Senate Finance Committee and received a copy of Creighton and Bettencourt\u2019s letter, said in a statement she is looking forward to working with her colleagues to \u201censure that all institutions are in compliance with the law and have the funding that they need to serve Texans.\u201d<\/p>

The Senate\u2019s initial budget proposal<\/a> does not increase funding for higher education.<\/p>

Senate Bill 17<\/a>, passed in 2023, prohibits universities from establishing or maintaining a diversity, equity and inclusion office; hiring or assigning an employee or contractor to perform the duties of a DEI office; or requiring any person to provide a DEI statement or undergo DEI training.<\/p>

Academic course instruction; scholarly research or creative works by students, faculty or staff; activities by student organizations; guest speakers and performers on short-term engagements are exempt from the ban.<\/p>

Universities may not spend money the Legislature has appropriated for that fiscal year until the governing board of the institution submits a report certifying it is complying with the law. They\u2019re also required to testify before the Legislature and undergo state audits.<\/p>

\u201cSB 17 clearly states that public colleges and universities must comply with the state law to receive taxpayer funds,\u201d Erin Wilson, the communications director for Creighton\u2019s office, wrote in a statement. \u201cAs we move through the appropriations process, it is essential that any higher education institutions not in compliance report to the Legislature and present a plan to align with a law passed nearly two hours ago.\u201d<\/p>

On Friday, the state auditor released the first such report<\/a>. It reviewed the Texas A&M University System and five community colleges and found only two violations.<\/p>

It found that Texas A&M University-Central Texas entered into a contract with a third-party vendor to develop the university\u2019s five-year strategic plan. Although the university didn\u2019t solicit or ultimately pay for any DEI work, the vendor included it in the initial contract.<\/p>

The auditor also found that McLennan Community College required a new hire to participate in a DEI training.<\/p>

Bettencourt said he recently had a \u201cpositive conversation\u201d with Texas Tech University System Chancellor Tedd Mitchell, who said he believed Texas Tech had 100% compliance.<\/p>

\u201cThere might be an issue with some archived web pages [at Texas Tech], but those conversations are ongoing and we\u2019ll see what response to the letter is,\u201d Bettencourt said.<\/p>

University of Texas System officials testified<\/a> to the Legislature last summer that they had closed 21 offices, eliminated 311 full and part-time positions and canceled 681 DEI-related trainings as a result of the law.<\/p>

Universities have faced criticism from students who say they\u2019re overcomplying and lawmakers who say they\u2019re not doing enough. Creighton, the architect of the law, said SB 17 has \u201cignited a nationwide shift toward merit-based achievement,\u201d but others believe it has made campuses less welcoming to students with backgrounds who are typically underrepresented in higher education.<\/p>

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.<\/em><\/p>

Disclosure: Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, Texas Tech University System, Texas A&M University System and University of Texas System have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a letter, Sens. Brandon Creighton and Paul Bettencourt said they found \u201cnumerous\u201d violations of the law, but didn\u2019t provide specifics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":222,"featured_media":181858,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"everlit_article_id":"","everlit_hide_embed":false,"everlit_embed_size":"","everlit_generation_settings":[],"_everlit_article_id":"","_everlit_hide_embed":false,"_everlit_embed_size":"","_everlit_generation_settings":[],"_everlit_content_hash":"","_everlit_metadata_hash":"","newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_newspack_byline_active":true,"_newspack_byline":"By [Author id=222]Jessica Priest[\/Author]","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"_photon_skip_featured_image":false,"_photon_quality_featured_image":0,"manual_modified_date":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":true,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[48,28],"tags":[1921,3772],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"tt_series":[304],"coauthors":[310],"class_list":["post-132358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-higher-education","category-politics","tag-brandon-creighton","tag-paul-bettencourt","tt_series-texas-legislature-2025","entry"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nLawmakers threaten Texas universities\u2019 funding over DEI ban<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In a letter, Sens. 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