Fall 2026 graduate-course syllabi obtained by The Dallas Express show Texas Christian University placing “settler colonialism,” “structural violence,” decolonial thinking and group “complicity” at the center of two College of Education courses.
The documents do not present those concepts only as historical subjects for debate. One syllabus describes a land acknowledgment as part of “the ongoing process of breaking colonial mindsets” and asks how students may perpetuate colonial harm. Another says TCU continues to benefit from the forceful removal of Indigenous people.
TCU requires all Curriculum Studies students to take “Curriculum History.”
Course connects evil to settler colonialism
The three-credit graduate seminar “Evil and Education,” taught by Cathryn van Kessel, opens with a lengthy land acknowledgment stating that “TCU, like all our lives and institutions, exists on Indigenous land.” It recognizes the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes and encourages students to consider their relationship with the land.
The syllabus says educators should teach “the persistent trauma stemming from settler colonialism” as well as Indigenous “refusals, resistance, and survivance.” It then describes a land acknowledgment as “a small act” that is insufficient by itself.
According to the syllabus, that acknowledgment forms part of “the ongoing process of breaking colonial mindsets” and uplifting “decolonial and anticolonial options.”
“This course (although it is about evil) is intended to work toward being in good relations with each other and the Land,” the syllabus states. It asks how different conceptions of evil could help students recognize how “any of us can (and do) perpetuate the harms of settler colonialism on this Land and elsewhere.”
The course also addresses “structural violence.” Van Kessel writes that educators should care for students subjected to such structures as well as students “from groups who must come to terms with their complicity in those structures.”
Required course cites removal and reparative accountability
A second fall 2026 course, “Curriculum History,” is taught by Pablo Montes. Its syllabus states that the course is required for all Curriculum Studies students. TCU’s graduate catalog also lists Curriculum History in the United States among the content requirements for its Curriculum Studies doctoral program.
Montes’ syllabus contains a “Land Protocol, Responsibility, and Accountability” section that goes beyond TCU’s official acknowledgment.
“The fact remains that TCU benefited/benefits from the forceful removal” of the Kirikirʔi:s people, the syllabus states. The syllabus characterizes TCU’s relationship with the Kirikirʔi:s and other Indigenous communities as one marked by “dispossession, forceful removal, and violence.”
The syllabus says Indigenous scholars have criticized acknowledgments that lack “material accountability, reparative considerations, and spiritual importance.” It quotes Theresa Stewart-Ambo and K. Wayne Yang arguing that recognition alone is not a decolonizing act but a “first step.” Montes then invites TCU faculty, staff, students and the institution to work toward “becoming guests on these ancestral territories.”
The course schedule includes a section titled “Reclaiming Multicultural Curriculum.” It asks students to consider how curriculum is tied to “race, ethnicity, gender, migration, and class.” Topics include “Eugenics, Education, and Race Science,” Native American curricular history, Asian American curricular history, and Latinx and Mexican American curricular history.
Required texts include The White Architects of Black Education, Eugenics and Education in America, and Reclaiming the Multicultural Roots of US Curriculum. Students are also assigned W.E.B. Du Bois’ 1935 essay “Does the Negro Need Separate Schools?”
TCU encourages acknowledgments in syllabi
The course language appears within a broader university initiative. TCU’s guidance calls for using its land acknowledgment at major official events and in syllabi, employee orientations, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) activities, and job searches.
TCU says the acknowledgment is “more than a statement” and seeks through it to foster recognition of how the colonization of Native Americans and their lands shaped TCU’s “policies, practices, curricula and activities.” TCU adopted the statement in 2021 after the university’s Native American Advisory Circle developed it and the Chancellor’s Cabinet approved it.
TCU’s current catalog describes Curriculum Studies as interdisciplinary and rooted partly in cultural studies and critical theory. It says the field values “an ethic of social action that honors diversity.”
TCU maintains LGBTQ+ advocacy programs
Separate from the two courses, TCU continues to operate dedicated LGBTQ+ Resources through its Intercultural Center. The program says it seeks to foster a “connected and affirming environment” and offers workshops for students, faculty, staff, classes and university departments.
The university also operates Qmunity, which engages LGBTQIA+ students and allies to identify issues facing those students and “advocate for solutions” on campus. TCU’s staff directory lists an assistant director assigned specifically to LGBTQ+ Resources.
Texas DEI restrictions do not govern TCU
Texas’ DEI law restricts public institutions of higher education from maintaining DEI offices, requiring DEI statements, imposing certain race- or sex-based preferences, and making DEI training a condition of enrollment or employment.
The law includes exceptions for academic course instruction, scholarly research, student organizations and certain other activities. It also governs public institutions, not private universities such as TCU.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, SB 17 has forced public universities to dismantle DEI offices and examine whether campus programs and displays comply with state law. TCU retains substantially greater discretion to maintain identity-focused offices and programs.
The fall 2026 syllabi show how TCU is using that discretion inside its graduate education curriculum. The documents place decolonial thinking, structural complicity and identity-based analysis directly into courses preparing advanced students in education and curriculum studies.
The Dallas Express contacted TCU for comment about the syllabi, the required Curriculum History course, and the university’s continued identity-based programming. TCU did not respond before publication.
