At least 78 changes were made to UNT courses in attempts to comply with the state’s DEI ban, according to internal communications reviewed by The Dallas Morning News.
Faculty members fear the law — which bans diversity, equity and inclusion offices and programs from public colleges and universities — is leading to censorship of classes despite the exemptions for course instruction and research.
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. Bill Camp, faculty member in the college of education, emailed colleagues on Oct. 28 alerting them of the changes made to graduate courses.
“If a change is being made to your course, there were problems related to SB 17 and the new charge in the new legislative session,” Camp wrote, referring to the legislation that created the DEI ban and to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s charge for lawmakers to review course syllabi for DEI content.
However, UNT spokeswoman Devynn Case said the changes are not related to the DEI ban.
“The College of Education is currently conducting its state-mandated curriculum alignment review to ensure its curriculum is in line with teacher education standards as required by the state,” Case wrote in a statement to The News. “In response to the review, we are updating course names, content, readings, etc. to align with the state’s standards for the training of teachers.”
She added that, “This review is not related to SB17.”
Camp did not respond to a request for comment. He serves on the college curriculum committee, which reviews and approves such changes, Case said.
“In the college of education, two faculty members from each department serve on the committee and part of their charge is to report out and keep their department faculty colleagues informed,” Case explained.
On Monday, state senators debated how DEI is woven into course content across various disciplines during a higher education subcommittee hearing in Austin.
“While DEI-related curriculum and course content does not explicitly violate the letter of the law, it indeed contradicts its spirit,” Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, who authored the DEI ban, said at the hearing.
In a statement, the Texas conference of the American Association of University Professors urged UNT’s administration to “end the censorship and restore its institutional commitment to academic freedom and shared governance.”
Academic freedom is “the freedom from censorship by the institution in a faculty member’s teaching, research, and expression,” the statement read. “Censoring content on course syllabi violates UNT’s policies and professional standards on academic freedom.”
Camp emailed colleagues on Oct. 28 about the changes. Some were not surprised because since the spring, they heard school administrators say the law could potentially impact classes, said Katherine Cumings Mansfield, a professor of educational leadership.
Faculty were told to make sure their syllabi complied with the new law, which left some confused because the law doesn’t apply to course instruction, Cumings Mansfield said.
Her course “race, gender and class in education” was changed to “critical inquiry in education,” which she says doesn’t make sense to the course she teaches.
That class is mostly made up of seasoned teachers training to be principals and school administrators who learn about the research on race, gender and class, such as why are Black boys overrepresented in special education classes, Cumings Mansfield said.
Changing the course’s focus would be “heartbreaking and very sad,” because the course helps the next generation of school leaders to be ready to “open up possibilities for students, regardless of their race, regardless of their class, regardless of whatever gender they are,” she said.
Understanding how such demographics impact education is personal to Cumings Mansfield. She is a first-generation college graduate who grew up in poverty and was told by a high school counselor that she wasn’t “college material,” she said.
She eventually found supportive teachers and became an educator herself.
Other faculty worry that such changes will go beyond the college of education and impact courses across UNT and the state.
During Monday’s hearing, Creighton said he received multiple reports about college courses that have DEI content and questioned whether professors’ political leanings impact what’s taught.
The Senate higher education subcommittee’s goal is to examine programs and certificates that “perpetuate any discriminatory efforts within diversity, equity and inclusion,” he said.
Tracy Everbach, a journalism professor at UNT, said she hasn’t heard a word from university leadership, and faculty are wondering whether changes are coming to their courses soon.
“Everyone seems to be in a state of confusion,” she said. “We haven’t been given any guidelines.”
She teaches “race, gender and the media,” which explores how such topics are covered in news media, television, advertisement and entertainment.
“It has been taught at UNT for more than 20 years,” Everbach said. She has been teaching it since 2009.
“It’s a really important class. When I talk to journalists, they wish they had a class like that,” she said.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.