The University of Texas at Austin is planning to eliminate four majors: African and African diaspora studies, Mexican American and Latina/o studies, women's and gender studies, and the race, indigeneity and migration major.
Danielle Pilar Clealand, the interim chair of the Social and Cultural Analysis Department, told faculty Tuesday that "the Provost's office rejected our proposal to keep our majors," in an email obtained by KUT News.
University officials announced plans to consolidate seven ethnic and gender studies departments at the College of Liberal Arts into two new departments in February. David Sosa, then the interim dean of the college, said the university would continue to look at changes to majors, minors and course offerings within the college. The university also said students would be able to finish their current majors, but these new changes have faculty questioning if that will be the case.
Mike Rosen, a university spokesperson, confirmed UT is no longer enrolling new students into the Mexican American and Latina/o studies, African and African Diaspora studies, and women's and gender studies programs.
"Students currently enrolled in those majors will be able to complete their degree," Rosen said.
Julie Minich, a professor in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis who teaches Mexican American and Latina/o studies, said faculty were given two weeks in August to come up with a proposal for what majors to offer. She said they proposed a new social and cultural analysis major and asked to keep most of the now-eliminated programs.
Minich said many institutions across the country offer these majors because, to better prepare students for many professional fields, it is essential for them to engage in deep study about people of different races and gender orientations.
"Eliminating a major in this way is censorship. It is reducing what students are able to study," Minich said. "As these classes become less available to students, one, it curtails student freedom to learn, but two, it curtails students' career prospects."
Lauren Gutterman is an associate professor in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis who teaches American studies. Gutterman said removing all these majors will mean that it will be harder to meet the minimum number of students required to offer a course.
"Even what courses we will be able to offer next semester is unclear at this point," Gutterman said. "What the next academic year, the 2027-28 academic year, will look like is just incredibly unclear and chaotic."
In April, some faculty called the department consolidation a political decision and said the timeline was detrimental for students' education. Since then, the university has proposed making changes to its core curriculum, with a plan to offer new courses by fall 2027.
Currently, the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis houses six majors, nine minors and certificates, and four graduate programs. In her email, Clealand said the provost's office agreed to keep urban studies and American studies as majors, but "they want all the other majors to be consolidated."
Minich said that UT Austin has been central to the development of the field of Mexican American studies, and getting rid of the major puts an end to the symbiotic relationship.
"It's a good thing when a university is known as one of the best places in this country to do this kind of work," Minich said. "By cutting off this field of study in particular, as an area where undergraduate students can focus, is really cutting off a central source of its own prestige."
According to Clealand's email, Daniel Brinks, the current interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts, suggested creating an ethnic studies major with tracks, or a social and cultural analysis major with tracks. Clealand said this has already been done in the newly created Department of European and Eurasian Studies.
Gutterman, who has been at UT since 2015, said she has never experienced a lack of clear communication from university leadership to this degree during her tenure.
"There's been no direct communication from the provost with faculty in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, no clear explanation about why these degree plans are being shut down," she said. "There's no evidence that this is response to student demands. So the justification is just entirely lacking."
Gutterman said she worries that shutting down the degree programs is a step closer to getting rid of faculty that don't align with the views of UT's leadership. In May, the UT Board of Regents approved a new policy that allows university presidents to more easily cut academic programs and get rid of positions within those programs.
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