University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) is the latest university in the University of Texas system to be identified as maintaining gender ideology courses as federal and state agencies purge the belief system.
The entire University of Texas System has faced renewed scrutiny following State Rep. Brian Harrison sounding the DEI alarm on X:
🚨TEXAS DEI Bombshell.
The Texas government is funding an entire GRADUATE PROGRAM in DEI… using TAXPAYER money!
This program indoctrinates students in DEI, critical race theory, gender and sexuality, and social justice.
Y'all vote for this!!?@UTAustin pic.twitter.com/XkgxoAj3Dy
— Brian Harrison (@brianeharrison) March 17, 2025
Harrison attached a screenshot of a University of Texas at Austin graduate program titled “Equity and Diversity in Special Education,” which appeared to once have been on the university’s website, The Dallas Express reported.
DX reached out to the following University of Texas System Board of Regents for comment:
| Name | Business Background | Term Expiration |
|---|---|---|
| Kevin P. Eltife | Owner, Eltife Properties | February 2027 |
| Janiece Longoria | (Retired) Chairman, Port of Houston Authority | February 2029 |
| James C. “Rad” Weaver | CEO, McCombs Partners | February 2029 |
| Christina Melton Crain | President & CEO, Unlocking DOORS | February 2025 |
| Robert P. Gauntt | Founder, Capital Creek Partners | February 2029 |
| Jodie Lee Jiles | Director, Transwestern Commercial Services | February 2025 |
| Nolan Perez, M.D. | Founder, Texas Digestive Specialists | February 2027 |
| Stuart W. Stedman | President, Stedman West Interests | February 2027 |
| Kelcy L. Warren | CEO & Chairman, Energy Transfer LP | February 2025 |
| Anthony John Dragun | Student Regent | May 2025 |
Each regent refused an opportunity to comment. Regents Longoria, Stedman, and Weaver were unreachable.
DX also reached out to the regent’s respective companies—where applicable—for clarification as to why their executives continue supporting public institutions that promote DEI programming, particularly in light of Texas’ pushback against leftist ideology. Similarly, each remained silent.
The revelations about the University of Texas at Austin prompted DX to investigate the coursework available at UTD. The following table compiles the findings:
Gender-Related Programs and Courses at UTD (Spring 2025)
| Category | Programs, Courses, and Organizations |
|---|---|
| Minors | – Gender Studies Minor – Courses include: 1. Introduction to Gender Studies 2. Gender in Western Thought 3. Feminism, Technology and Media 4. Race, Technology and Media 5. Psychology of Gender 6. Sex, Gender, and Society 7. Feminist Philosophy 8. Islamic Feminism 9. Motherhood and the Technological Womb |
| Graduate-Level Offerings | – Graduate Portfolio in LGBTQ Studies – Upon completion, the student’s transcript reads, “Portfolio in Women’s & Gender Studies.” |
| Courses (All Levels) | – Introductory Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies – Cross-Cultural Topics in Women’s and Gender Studies – Feminist Theory – Introduction to Feminist Research Methods – Marx and Marxist Theory |
| Organizations, Centers, and Departments | – Center for Women’s and Gender Studies – Department of Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies – LGBTQ Studies – “Hirstory/Herstory of LGBTQ Studies” |
These offerings contrast with a greater effort to purge gender ideology from federal and state government.
Shortly after President Donald Trump retook the oath of office in January, the Office of Personnel Management ordered agencies to eliminate gender ideology from government materials and replace the word “gender” with “sex” in federal forms.
Gov. Greg Abbott maintains a similar stance.
“Others have sought to distort the guarantee that men and women must be treated equally in order to impose mandates concerning sexual orientation and gender identity. On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, rejecting similar efforts by the Biden-Harris Administration to distort commonsense notions of biological sex. As the Chief Executive Officer of the State, I direct you to follow state and federal law. All Texas agencies must ensure that agency rules, internal policies, employment practices, and other actions comply with the law and the biological reality that there are only two sexes—male and female,” Abbott’s press release explained.
Following up, Abbott issued an Executive Order forbidding DEI policies and “curricula” in “all state agencies.”
These actions come as some Texas universities have partially reined in gender ideology.
DX previously asked officials at the University of Houston whether a section of its law school application had been removed that allowed users to select their gender as “Androgyne, Demigender, Female, Genderqueer or gender fluid, Male, Non-transgender man, Non-transgender woman, Prefer not to say, Questioning or unsure, ‘Transgender’ man, [and] ‘Transgender’ woman.”
A UH spokesman responded, “Yes. We have made some changes. We have a standardized application that is used by law schools around the country. When we were made aware of some of the fields that had been added, we asked that those fields be removed from the UH Law Center application because it’s not relevant to our admissions criteria.”
However, in the same report, DX discovered during that time that the UH’s job applications still had a “ze/hir/hirs, ze/zir/zirs” pronoun option.