Along with dozens of laws that took effect Jan. 1, the new year has also brought developments on policy issues affecting higher education across Texas.
Here are some important issues to watch in 2026.
Office of the Ombudsman
As part of Senate Bill 37, which passed in June 2025, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Office of the Ombudsman was created to enforce new laws restricting diversity, equity and inclusion. The office will begin taking complaints relating to the curriculum this year.
The board can make hiring decisions and has the authority to investigate campuses’ spending in accordance with compliance with the bill.
On Friday, the board launched its new website, stating it will give the public access to file complaints and provide feedback if they believe a university is violating laws that include the ban on diversity, equity and inclusion and provisions of SB 37, according to a Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board press release.
The launch of the new website comes after months of heightened scrutiny from conservative lawmakers over ideological teachings at state universities. The pressure has led regents and university leaders to create new policies limiting how professors can teach about race and gender.
Brandon Simmons, appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to lead the office, began conducting meetings with public university leaders across the state, according to the release.
Debate surrounds the new office due to claims that it centralizes power under the governor.
Faculty groups, such as the American Association of University Professors, a union and membership association of faculty and academic professionals, said in a press release that the law limits professors’ ability to teach analytical thinking and could lead to a loss in research funding.
The association also warns that the new office could be used to investigate campuses with limited due process. While faculty organizations have raised concerns about the scope of the new office, the bill’s author, Texas Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, has defended the legislation, saying it enhances oversight and ensures integrity and accountability for public colleges and universities.
“Strong oversight is essential to keeping Texas universities at the forefront of education and innovation,” Creighton said in a press release issued after the law’s passage. “SB 37 ensures that Texas universities stay focused on their core mission — educating students, driving research and innovation and preserving Texas’ role as a national leader in higher education.”
Free speech
In response to the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests, Senate Bill 2972 was passed in June 2025 and became effective in September 2025.
The bill aimed to give universities more control over demonstrations. The bill prohibits encampments on campus property, the use of masks and face coverings, bullhorns, speakers or sound amplifiers during class hours, demonstrations during the last two weeks of a semester and the lowering of the American flag and requires students and faculty to present a valid ID when asked by a member of campus or public law enforcement.
After the bill’s passage, several student groups at UT Austin and Dallas took legal action alleging the law violated the 1st and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
On Oct. 14, 2025, U.S. District Judge David Alan Ezra issued a preliminary injunction blocking the UT System from enforcing the bill.
“The First Amendment does not have a bedtime of 10:00 p.m.,” the ruling read. “The burden is on the government to prove that its actions are narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling governmental interest. It has not done so.”
While the court case focused on campus protest regulations, universities were simultaneously navigating other free speech controversies.
On Sept. 16, 2025, a Texas State University student’s enrollment ended after a video of him was posted on X showing him mocking conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death. Responses condemning the act followed shortly after, including one from Gov. Greg Abbott. “Expel this student immediately,” Abbott said in a post on X addressed to Texas State University. “Mocking assassination must have consequences.”
Hours after Abbott’s request, Texas State announced the individual in the video was no longer a student at the institution.
A student at Texas Tech University was arrested for a similar situation and the Texas Education Agency said it has received more than 350 complaints related to comments made about Kirk that will be investigated.
In light of reactions to Kirk’s death, the House and Senate Select Committees on Civil Discourse and Freedom of Speech in Higher Education are expected to invite public testimony this year.
The hearings are expected to examine how universities are enforcing new state laws on campus protest and free speech.
Drag ban
In March 2023, Walter Wendler, West Texas A&M President, announced that he was canceling a planned campus drag show hosted by LGBTQ+ organization Spectrum WT.
Shortly after, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) filed a lawsuit against Wendler and West Texas A&M.
In September 2023, the district court denied FIRE’s motion for a preliminary injunction. While the case made its way through the courts, Wendler canceled a second drag show planned by Spectrum WT in March 2024.
On Aug. 18, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned the district court’s ruling and placed a temporary hold on Wendler’s enforcement of his directive, allowing Spectrum WT and any other student organization to put on drag shows while litigation continues.
That ruling, however, did not settle the issue statewide. At UTA, drag performances had been part of campus life, including annual drag shows hosted by the university.
However, in 2024, the tradition ended after Senate Bill 17 became law.
In February 2025, a drag queen appeared at an event hosted by the Queer Social Work Student Association, an appearance specifically referenced in County Judge Tim O’Hare’s letter to the UT system requesting they ban drag shows. In the letter, O’Hare cited President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14168, noting that federal funds will not be used to promote what it defines as “gender ideology.”
“As an alumnus of UT Austin, I care about the reputation of the UT system,” O’Hare wrote in his letter. “It is imperative the UT system leads in Texas and across the nation as a system prioritizing academics and student dignity.”
On March 18, 2025, the UT System Board of Regents announced that its universities are banned from sponsoring drag shows or hosting them in campus facilities. Seraphine Pecson, Progressive Student Union president and civil engineering senior, said since the school no longer hosts drag events, it has fallen upon the community to host them. She added that many students are cautious about attending.
Even amid that caution, Pecson said that PSU recently hosted a drag show off campus. The event operated at a financial loss, but she said it was still worthwhile.
Artificial intelligence
House Bill 149 established a statewide framework for regulating artificial intelligence systems, requiring transparency from companies and government agencies using AI, including notifying people when they are interacting with an AI system.
The bill also created a state advisory board to oversee its implementation and compliance. It went into effect Jan. 1.
Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Texas, one of the bill’s sponsors, said the bill recognized that Texas was behind on passing consumer data privacy laws and that he wanted Texas to be proactive in getting ahead of the changing AI ecosystem, according to an article by the IAPP, a nonpartisan nonprofit association founded to promote and improve the professions of privacy, AI governance and digital responsibility. Students at UTA have called for departments and student organizations to be more transparent when AI is used.
In September 2025, the Student Senate passed Resolution 25-12, titled “Identify A.I.” The resolution aims to require all of UTA’s promotional material to include a label if it is made using artificial intelligence — the resolution almost gained unanimous support from the senate.
Shravan Venkatesh, College of Science senator, disapproved of the resolution in September and said that the school should do more to integrate AI into students’ workflow and studying, according to previous Shorthorn reporting.
With AI increasingly shaping political messages, education and online content, lawmakers and institutions are grappling with how to regulate the advancing technology.
Funding
Funding is currently being impacted by significant federal budget cuts that targeted specific research areas and halted some grants.
According to a press release from the Center for American Progress Action Fund, an advocacy organization, an analysis produced by the organization in 2025 estimated that the Trump administration’s federal funding cuts affected more than 600 colleges and universities.
During UTA President Jennifer Cowley’s State of the University Address on Sept. 11, 2025, she said that federal grant cuts were impacting research at universities across the country.
According to a UT System budget document, the 2026 fiscal year budget includes a $44.2 million decrease in total revenues and transfers from the 2025 fiscal year.
UTA projected a 40% drop in international graduate students last fall semester, and fewer undergraduates than previously anticipated due to a ruling that undocumented students could no longer receive in-state tuition.
According to the report, budget decreases will focus on implementing the current fiscal year’s operating budget reductions, including the hiring freeze, reclassifications and other salary adjustments, restricting the purchase of software replacements unless it reduces the annual cost, reducing future labor costs and increasing efficiency.
@tay._.sansom