The statement from PEN comes after The Dallas Morning News reported on Thursday that as many as 78 changes were made to the school’s courses in order to align with the state’s DEI ban.
“The course changes at the University of North Texas’ college of education included removing words such as ‘race,’ ‘gender,’ ‘class’ and ‘equity’ from titles and descriptions,” the Morning News report stated. “Bill Camp, faculty in the college of education, emailed colleagues on Oct. 28 alerting them of the changes made to graduate courses.”
For its part, PEN America expressed shock at the lengths UNT seems to have gone to rid itself of anything remotely resembling a DEI effort.
“Making up provisions in SB 17 that do not exist is the hallmark of a higher education system that has gone totally rogue,” said Jeremy C. Young, PEN America’s Freedom to Learn program director, in a statement. “The situation at UNT is one of the most extreme cases of overcompliance with a censorship law we have ever seen. SB 17 already restricts diversity initiatives and programming on campus, which is bad enough. But by extending the reach of this law into areas explicitly protected by the legislation itself, UNT is not only misinterpreting the law but also putting faculty members’ academic freedom in severe jeopardy.”
The University didn’t respond to our request for a reaction to PEN America’s statement, but a spokesperson for the school did tell The Dallas Morning News earlier this week that the changes are not related to SB 17. Instead, they're an effort to ensure that “its curriculum is in line with teacher education standards as required by the state.”
Signed into law in 2023, SB 17 says that public universities in Texas cannot make diversity training related to race, color, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation a mandatory requirement, nor fund or staff DEI programs at the school. PEN American explained in its statement, however, that “SB 17 explicitly exempts from the ban “academic course instruction” and “scholarly research or a creative work” by students, faculty, or other research personnel.”
The news of UNT’s changes comes just days after it was announced that Texas A&M University has cut more than 50 minors and certificates, including LGBTQ Studies, that the school says were “low producing.” According to a Texas Tribune report, dozens of A&M faculty appeared at a Board of Regents meeting to oppose the board’s decision, one that a faculty member said “has no precedent.”
PEN America’s @jeremycyoung says the University of North Texas “has gone totally rogue” by restricting diversity in academic course content & research, citing a law that doesn’t actually require it. Read our statement here: https://t.co/sBupeLf9RO
— PEN America (@PENamerica) November 15, 2024
Earlier this year, we looked at how the DEI ban was negatively affecting students in North Texas. One recent UNT alumna expressed concern that the benefits of her campus experience will not be available for students moving forward.
“As an undergraduate and a graduate student, I experienced the rich diversity of the UNT student body,” UNT graduate Brianna Clay said. “I experienced and witnessed diverse student organizations and support for diverse perspectives among our student leaders and Greek lettered organizations. What worries me most about Texas’ SB17 is the impact that it can have on outcomes for students from historically disadvantaged groups and even more so for their sense of belonging to truly flourish in predominantly white institutions.”
Tracy Everbach, a journalism professor at UNT who has taught a course on “race, gender and the media” since 2009, told the Morning News that she was unclear about the future of that course in light of the changes. When reached for comment on Friday by the Observer, she had yet to hear anything from school officials regarding possible changes to her course, which for now is likely a good thing.
But when one does not hear from school leaders in the midst of so much change, a lot can be left up in the air as well.
“I don’t really get what UNT’s strategy is,” Everbach said. “I don’t know that they have one.”
