There appear to be more questions than answers about what woke courses are offered by Texas’ flagship university.
The University of Texas at Austin has come under scrutiny from State Rep. Brian Harrison, who posted 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!!?” He attached a screenshot of an Equity and Diversity in Special Education Doctoral Program from the UT website.
The Dallas Express reached out to the following Board of Regents of the University of Texas System to inquire about this program:
| 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. Likewise, to the extent that the Regent’s companies are distinct public entities from themselves and to the degree the regents are not retired or students, DX reached out to their various companies for comment on why their executives are supporting institutions with woke programs, as the leftist ideology appears to be in retreat in Texas companies and academic institutions.
Regents Longoria, Stedman, and Weaver could not be reached for comment, and none of the companies contacted responded.
| Category | Programs, Courses, and Organizations |
|---|---|
| Bachelor’s Degrees | Women and Gender Studies – Includes coursework such as “Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies” |
| Race, Indigeneity, and Migration (RIM) – Fosters multicultural and comparative knowledge around race, gender, sexuality, indigeneity, and global migration. The program description states: “All students, majors, and genders welcome.” | |
| Minors | Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer/Sexualities Studies |
| – Features offerings such as the “Transgender Feminisms Monthly Reading Group” and the “Black Queer Studies Collection” | |
| – Graduate Portfolio in LGBTQ Studies | |
| Graduate-Level Offerings | Master’s Degree in Women and Gender Studies |
| Ph.D. in Women and Gender Studies | |
| Graduate Portfolio in LGBTQ Studies – Upon completion, the student’s transcript reads, “Portfolio in Women’s & Gender Studies.” | |
| Courses (Across 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” |
In recent months, the nature of woke programs and DEI has been in flux in the Lonestar State. The Dallas Express could not locate a webpage corresponding to Harrison’s screenshot on the UT website, although Google search results indicate that it once existed.
Further, laws and rules related to public institutions have changed several times since President Trump was sworn into office on January 20, 2025. The 45th and 47th President signed an Executive Order on March 20 to begin dismantling the federal Department of Education, DX reported.
Similarly, Trump’s Office of Personnel Management issued an Executive Order directing agencies to remove “gender ideology” from federal websites, contracts, and emails and to substitute the term “gender” with “sex” on federal forms.
“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 explains.
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 reigned in gender ideology.
A spokesperson for the University of Houston recently told DX that UH had scrapped part of its law school application that allowed users to select “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,” as their gender.
However, in the same report, DX discovered that the UH’s job applications still had a “ze/hir/hirs, ze/zir/zirs” pronoun option.