Texas lawmakers may ban certain lessons at state colleges under expanded DEI crackdown

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This year, the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature is expected to pick up where it left off two years ago to address a perceived liberal bias at the state’s public, four-year universities.

Republican lawmakers plan to ensure universities are complying with a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion offices, programs and training passed last session. They are expected to file legislation that would limit the influence of professors on their campuses, many of whom they accuse of being “woke” activists. They have vowed to crack down on antisemitism in the wake of pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses, which will likely reignite discussions over free speech on campus. And they are proposing again to end in-state tuition for undocumented students.

Legislation that could improve students’ futures — either by helping them pay for college or encouraging them to enter a high-demand field – are also under consideration.

About 1.4 million Texans are enrolled in the state’s public higher education system, which includes 36 universities, 50 community and junior college districts, one technical college system and 14 health-related institutions. The Legislature allocated $11.5 billion to higher education in fiscal year 2025, according to a report by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association.

Gov. Greg Abbott said in his state of the state speech on Sunday the Legislature should make post-secondary education more affordable, accessible — and accountable.

“College professors have increasingly pushed woke agendas,” Abbott said. “They have too much influence over who is hired to educate our kids. We need legislation that prohibits professors from having any say over employment decisions.”

Bolstering a conservative vision for higher ed

In 2023, lawmakers exempted several aspects of college life from its DEI ban such as coursework, research and other creative works from students.

Despite this, conservative lawmakers have grown increasingly alarmed by reports that DEI concepts are being taught at the state’s public universities. House Bill 2311, authored by Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, would eliminate those exemptions and tie universities’ funding to their compliance with the ban. Schools would be required to submit compliance reports before they could spend any of their legislative appropriations and be subject to periodic audits. If they didn’t fix a violation within 180 days, they would be ineligible for future funding increases. Students and university employees required to participate in DEI training could also sue them.

The Texas Chapter of the American Association of University Professors said universities are already over-complying with the 2023 DEI ban because it is ambiguous. In November, the University of North Texas removed references to race and equity in course titles and descriptions. Last month, nine universities backed out of a conference for Black, Hispanic and Native American students after Abbott threatened Texas A&M University President Mark Welsh III’s job because some university staffers planned to participate.

The AAUP is hoping Democratic lawmakers succeed in clarifying that the ban does not apply to scholarships and research funded by private money, charities or federal grants. But the organization worries that teaching cultural, ethnic and gender studies will soon be outlawed.

In fact, on Monday, Harrison filed another piece of legislation that would prohibit universities from offering certificates, degrees or courses in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer studies or DEI. Employees found to be teaching these subjects could be fired and have their name added to a do-not-hire list.

Republican lawmakers also want to reign in faculty senates, which play a key role in developing curriculum. They believe faculty senates promote the teaching of DEI concepts. Although no bills related to faculty senates have been filed yet, some address public universities’ hiring practices. Senate Bill 452, authored by Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, would require universities to get approval from the board of regents before hiring a department chair.

“This is especially important when department heads are willfully opposing state and federal law, such as a ban on racist DEI policies, which comes at the expense of merit-based academic excellence,” Middleton wrote in a statement to The Texas Tribune.

Typically, university presidents hire department chairs after a search committee of students, faculty and staff vets the candidates. It’s unclear if Middleton’s bill would disrupt that, but Joey Velasco, president of the Texas Council of Faculty Senates, said it would be difficult for the board of regents to make an informed decision without the search committee’s input.

“That’s like trying to drive a car from 30,000 feet in the air by remote control. You’re just too far away from the surface level to know who is going to be an effective leader for a group of academics, and I wonder what those decisions would look like,” Velasco said.

Last session, Republican lawmakers threatened to eliminate tenure, a status of employment granted to certain professors that allows them to research and teach controversial topics without fear of reprisal. In the end, lawmakers codified tenure into state law, giving themselves the ability to tweak it in the future. One proposal filed this year seeks once again to ban Texas public universities from offering tenure, but it’s unclear how much traction it will get.

Antisemitism or free speech?

Combating antisemitism is also top of mind for conservative lawmakers after college students throughout the country protested the Israel-Hamas war last spring.

At the University of Texas at Austin last year, a peaceful protest turned chaotic when state troopers were deployed and arrested hundreds. Protesters said they wanted the university to divest from manufacturers supplying Israel with weapons in its strikes on Gaza. But Abbott and others said the protests were “hate filled” and “antisemitic.” A student at UT-Austin last year reported to lawmakers that the protesters used slurs against Jewish students. Afterward, the lawmakers recommended giving the board of regents the power to regulate protests on campus, and Abbott called on the university to expel students who had participated in the protests.

Senate Bill 326, authored by Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, and House Bill 2102, authored by Rep. Terri Leo Wilson, R-Galveston, would require universities to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Allilance’s definition of antisemitism when considering disciplinary action against a student. The House bill would require universities that determine a student’s actions were motivated by antisemitism to receive the same punishment the university levies for student actions motivated by racism. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression said using the IHRA’s definition of antisemitism could quell free speech on campuses because it could lead to universities punishing any students who criticize Israel.

“These policies are generally well-intentioned to ensure that students feel welcome on their campus, but are inevitably used to censor speech that somebody on campus doesn't like,” said Tyler Coward, FIRE’s lead counsel for government affairs. “These discussions and debates about foreign policy, foreign conflicts are political speech that enjoy the highest amount of protection under our Constitution.”

The last time the Legislature addressed speech on college campuses was in 2019 when lawmakers expressed concern that conservative voices were being silenced. They passed a law requiring universities to allow anyone, not just students and staff, to express themselves in the common outdoor areas of their campuses so long as they do so lawfully and without disrupting the school’s functions.

Lawmakers target dreamers, funding from certain foreign nations

A multi-year effort to eliminate in-state tuition for certain undocumented college-bound students could also have more traction this session with Texas officials expressing broad support for President Donald Trump’s plans to curb immigration.

Since 2001, undocumented students who graduated from a Texas high school, lived in Texas for three years before graduating and resided in the state for a year before enrolling at a Texas public college or university have qualified for in-state tuition, which is usually lower than the tuition costs that students who are not Texas residents have to pay. Undocumented students who want to pay in-state tuition have to sign an affidavit declaring their intent to apply for permanent resident status as soon as they are able. About 19,000 undocumented students have signed such an affidavit, Texas Higher Education Commissioner Wynn Rosser said at a Senate Committee of Finance hearing Wednesday.

Other bills would limit Texas’ ties with certain countries, which could impact research and other operations at the state’s universities. House Bill 173, filed by Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, would forbid universities from accepting funding from the governments of China, Iran, North Korea or Russia or from any government that has provided material support to a foreign terrorist organization. House Bill 1381, filed by Rep. Wes Virdell, R-Brady, would forbid universities from accepting funding from countries on the U.S. Government's watch list or U.S. Government's list of countries violating the International Religious Freedom Act.

Abbott has already ordered university faculty and staff not to travel to some of these countries for work and to limit or stop working altogether with any company owned or controlled in whole or part by these countries.

Expanding financial aid support and transfer pathways

Texas legislators are expected to take up a proposal of more than $360 million that would change the landscape of financial aid in the state. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the state’s higher education agency, wants to guarantee two state grants – the Texas Education Opportunity grant and TEXAS grant – for low-income students graduating in the top 25% of their class.

"We must provide students with greater clarity about their financial aid options, and do so as early as possible," Rosser said Wednesday.

The effort comes after students lost out on state grant money because of glitches in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. Texas colleges distribute state financial aid on a first-come, first-serve basis. Many students affected by the glitch saw schools run out state grant money before their financial aid packages could be processed, counselors told the Tribune.

Texas students may see added financial support for non-tuition costs like groceries. Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin, filed House Bill 820, which would guarantee students are eligible for food stamps when they are on an academic break.

Lawmakers will also get to revisit a critical bill they passed last session that changed how they fund community colleges. At the center of the new funding system is a dynamic formula based on student outcomes. Community colleges now get rewarded when students complete a degree or certificate, transfer to a four-year university or complete college credit in high school.

The coordinating board has estimated Texas lawmakers will need to give them an extra $40 million to fully fund community colleges for the last two years. That’s because colleges are owed more money than what was allocated in the 2024-25 biennium. It’s a historic request, the first supplementary budget request community colleges have made in recent years, according to Ray Martinez, the CEO of the Texas Association of Community Colleges.

Texas may expand when junior colleges get money for student transfers. Currently, colleges only get funds if students transfer to an in-state, public university after completing 15 hours. Both Senate Bill 49, filed by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and Senate Bill 685, Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, would expand the transfer incentive to include students enrolling in private universities.

Disclosure: Texas A&M University, Texas Association of Community Colleges, Texas Council of Faculty Senates, University of Texas at Austin and University of North Texas 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.