When Texas college students return to their campuses after the winter break, they’ll discover the lights are still off in their campuses’ diversity offices.
That’s because a new law that outlaws such work at the state’s higher education institutions goes into effect, Jan. 1.
Another 29 laws also will go into effect in the new year that aim to change the economy, tax codes and the criminal justice system.
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Dissolving diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at public universities: Senate Bill 17 requires public universities to end so-called diversity, equity and inclusion work. Universities will also be unable to offer training on diversity and inclusion for its faculty and staff, or require diversity statements in hiring processes. Universities must also confirm to the Legislature between legislative sessions that they are in full compliance.
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The law’s restrictions do not apply to class instruction, materials needed for federal grant applications or student organizations on campuses, but multiple university officials have said the law has made hiring new faculty more difficult.
I work at a large public university. The sad answer is every admin department is incredibly inefficient and DEI is no different. Six people who sit in an office 98% of the time doing things that should be done by a python script, 1% emailing the entire uni mandatory quizzes like “a student in your class called another student the N word, was that bad?” And the final 1% of the time doing things that actually matter.
That problem exists in nearly every office environment.