Even at Texas Woman’s University, whose very name shows its legacy, gender studies programs face potential pushback from lawmakers.
Just three years ago, Texas Woman’s University (TWU) approved a new bachelor’s degree program in Multicultural Women’s and Gender Studies. Danielle Phillips-Cunningham, who began teaching at the university in 2011, proposed the new major as a way to bring more students into the program amid decreases in enrollment during COVID-19. Phillips-Cunningham said the undergraduate students she taught had a clear desire to major in the field. “The courses really do a good job of demonstrating the links between politics and people’s personal lives,” Phillips-Cunningham said.
Despite having recently downsized their department, she saw the university’s approval of the new degree program as a sign of its commitment to this academic field. At the time, other institutions had begun to cut funding for similar programs as reactionary animus against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) set in.
