In a sweeping restructure, the University of Texas at Austin will consolidate four departments, including African and African Diaspora Studies and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, college leaders told department heads Thursday.
The departments, along with American Studies as well as Mexican American and Latino Studies, will be consolidated into a Social and Cultural Analysis department in a process that is expected to be complete by September 2027.
UT will separately consolidate Germanic Studies, Slavic and Eurasian Studies, and French and Italian into a new Department of European and Eurasian Studies.
The university has begun a curricula review to determine which majors and minors to continue offering under the two consolidated departments.
More than 800 students are pursuing majors, minors and graduate degrees across the departments, according to Save UT, a faculty group opposed to the merger. It’s unclear how the changes will affect their coursework and path to degree completion, though university leaders are recommending students continue to pursue their degree programs.
“This is a sad day for UT students. Rather than bringing the state’s next generation into the future, our leaders are taking a giant leap backwards,” said Julie Minich, professor of Mexican American and Latino Studies and English. “UT is reversing roughly fifty years of intellectual progress and innovation. If the goal is to make sure UT is no longer a global leader in higher education this is a great move.”
Jim Davis, the president of UT-Austin, said the reorganization was in response to a review that found “some significant inconsistencies and fragmentation across the college’s departments.”
“Of course, students already enrolled in the departments being consolidated can continue to pursue their degree programs within the new departments while the curriculum review and departmental change is underway,” Davis said in a notice to students, faculty and staff.
Ending the programs as separate departments comes as Texas universities face a growing political pressure to restrict how they teach race, gender and sexuality. Last month, Texas A&M eliminated its women’s and gender studies program. Federal officials have also urged UT-Austin and a handful of other universities to sign a “compact” that promises preferential access to grants if they commit to defining sex as male or female based on reproductive function and overhauling or eliminating academic departments that are hostile to conservative ideas.
There is no state or federal law prohibiting instruction on race, gender or sexual orientation at universities. Senate Bill 17, passed in 2023, banned diversity, equity and inclusion offices but explicitly exempted classroom teaching and scholarly research. Senate Bill 37 in 2025 shifted authority over curricula from faculty to governor-appointed regents, and although early drafts sought to restrict what could be taught, that language was dropped before final passage.
The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
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