Texas Universities Eliminate SOGI Programs, Accelerate Department Mergers
On April 9, Chancellor Brandon Creighton announced that Texas Tech University (TTU) will discontinue all programs related to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). Recommendations from provosts are due by June 15. This decision follows a memo from September 2025 that limited gender to two biological categories. Meanwhile, the University of Texas at Austin (UT) is expediting departmental mergers to fall 2026, combining French, Italian, Germanic, Slavic, and Eurasian Studies into a new Department of European and Eurasian Studies, and merging several other studies into a Social and Cultural Analysis department. These changes are a result of Texas Senate Bills 17 and 37, along with a presidential executive order on accreditation. TTU Professor Andrew Martin criticized the actions as authoritarian, while ceramics professor Von Venhuizen noted that political content led to the removal of artworks from his exhibition at the Mayer Museum. Additionally, the Lubbock City Council had previously reduced funding for the First Friday Art Trail due to its LGBTQ programming.
Key facts
- TTU Chancellor Brandon Creighton issued a memo on April 9 ordering elimination of SOGI programs.
- Provosts must submit recommendations by June 15, 2026.
- A September 2025 memo by former Chancellor Tedd L. Mitchell restricted gender to two biological sexes.
- UT Austin accelerated departmental consolidations to fall 2026.
- New departments: European and Eurasian Studies; Social and Cultural Analysis.
- Affected programs include African and African Diaspora Studies, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, American Studies, Mexican American and Latino Studies.
- Texas Senate Bills 17 and 37 restrict DEI and race/gender studies.
- President Trump's April 2025 executive order on accreditation targets DEI initiatives.
- TTU professor Andrew Martin called the policies 'authoritarian.'
- Artist Von Venhuizen had artworks removed from his exhibition at Mayer Museum due to political content.
- Lubbock City Council cut $25,600 in funding for First Friday Art Trail in 2024 over LGBTQ programming.
Entities
Artists
- Andrew Martin
- Von Venhuizen
- Steve Hilton
Institutions
- Texas Tech University
- University of Texas at Austin
- American Association of University Professors
- Mayer Museum
- Angelo State University
- Midwestern State University
- Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts
- Lubbock City Council
- Texas Legislature
- Glasstire
- Inside Higher Ed
- The Texas Tribune
- The Barbed Wire
- Uncloseted Media
- New York Times
Locations
- Lubbock
- Texas
- United States
- Austin
- Washington, D.C.
- Wichita Falls