People are shown on campus during a move-in day at the University of Houston in Houston Friday, Aug. 22, 2025.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Texas college students may find new limits on what courses they can take and what professors can talk about in the classroom when they return to campus for the fall semester.
Most of the changes are tied to Senate Bill 37, a 2025 law that increased state oversight of higher education and reduced faculty influence. Former state Sen. Brandon Creighton, a Republican from Conroe and now chancellor of the Texas Tech University System, wrote the bill amid conservative lawmakers’ concerns about alleged liberal bias on campus and the value of a college degree.
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All of Texas’ public colleges and universities are reviewing their core curricula to comply with SB37, which requires that all general education courses are “foundational” to a sound postsecondary education and “necessary” to prepare students for civic and professional life. At some universities, that could mean changes to course content or fewer course options for students.
The upcoming legislative session may bring an even bigger overhaul. Lawmakers could shrink the number of credit hours required to meet the state’s general education requirements.
Then there are restrictions that go beyond SB37’s mandate. Several university systems restricted teaching topics related to race, gender and sexuality in the core, as they aim to curb alleged “indoctrination” in the classroom.
The campus debates are intense, with some faculty and students saying they’re afraid to talk freely in classrooms, especially when they discuss ideas targeted by conservative lawmakers. Supporters of the policies say they hold colleges accountable to taxpayers.
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Here are some of the significant changes to instruction at Texas university systems.
University of Texas System
Campus tours to prospective students include a stop in front of the famous University of Texas tower on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025 in Austin. The tower will be going under renovation this year for some structural upkeep.
Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer
The UT system policy requires professors to teach “both sides” of all issues and avoid “controversial subjects” when they aren’t “germane” to course material.
UT-Austin is also merging the university’s four ethnic and women’s, gender and sexuality studies departments into a new Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, prompting concern among some faculty about shrinking resources and the programs’ future.
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Another merger is in the works: the French and Italian, Germanic studies, and Slavic and Eurasian studies programs will move to a new Department of European and Eurasian Studies, according to The Daily Texan. UT-Austin President Jim Davis said that the restructuring will fix “inconsistencies and fragmentation” in the College of Liberal Arts. Students will still be able to complete their degrees under the consolidated structure, Davis said.
A curriculum overhaul is also underway at the flagship, though it won’t affect students until at least fall 2028, according to the Austin American-Statesman. New classes that will count toward the requirements will be available by fall 2027.
The changes will make the core smaller — going from 14 to 12 course requirements — and some elements align with conservative lawmakers’ priorities, including a greater emphasis on Western civilization. Courses that are deemed “too narrow” will be cut from the core.
University of Houston System
People walk across the University of Houston campus near the UH Student Center in Houston, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025.
Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle
This spring, UH professors conducted a “self-review” of all courses, in which they were told to affirm an “academic commitment” to teaching critical thinking instead of indoctrinating. At the time, some faculty said they believed the review encouraged self-censorship.
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The main campus also reviewed its core curriculum under SB37, and the board of regents is expected to vote on the changes this week. If passed, up to 40% of course offerings could be cut from the core, including “Intro to Global Climate Change,” “Black Liberation Theology,” “Introduction to Women’s Studies” and “Introduction to LGBT Studies.”
Texas A&M University System
Brian Evans, president of the Texas Conference American Association of University Professors, speaks as Texas A&M students and faculty gather to support academic freedom on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026. In late 2025, the university system approved a policy to restrict faculty from advocating race and gender ideology.
Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle
The system’s board of regents passed a policy that prohibits the teaching of race ideology, gender ideology and topics related to sexual orientation and gender identity in the core. Professors need prior approval to teach those topics in courses outside of the core.
The policy was part of the fallout from a viral video of a student confronting a professor about a lesson on gender identity in a children’s literature course.
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The ban triggered a sweeping syllabus review and led administrators at the system’s 12 universities to cancel six courses in the spring, modify hundreds of others and end the flagship’s women’s and gender studies program. No new students will be able to declare a major or minor in the program, though currently enrolled students will be able to finish.
The American Association of University Professors, the AAUP, has sued the university system’s board members to block the policy, which applies to courses every semester.
Texas State University System
The system’s board of regents approved changes to its universities’ core offerings at its Aug. 6 meeting without discussion. The changes take effect this fall semester.
Many course modifications or deletions appeared to be procedural, including the removal of several courses from the catalog that hadn’t been offered in years.
Texas State University, however, saw the most changes. The university modified 115 courses after “a university-wide curriculum review conducted to ensure value-neutral instruction across the core curriculum,” according to the agenda. University leaders also removed eight courses in honors, including “Italy and Arts of the Islamic World,” “CS Lewis: Chronicles of a Master Communicator,” and “From Jay-Z to Kendrick Lamar: Politics, Power, and Identity in Hip Hop Literature.”
Lamar University’s honors department also requested the removal of a course called “Scholars Development,” according to board materials. And a Sam Houston State University course, which was not specified, will be restructured to serve more majors because it was only offered to education students and deemed too “narrow.”
Texas Tech University System
Aaron Texidor, right, of Raiders Against Censorship, speaks as Lisa Limeri, adjunct professor of biology at Texas Tech University, and Antonio L. Ingram II, senior counsel at the Legal Defense Fund, listen during a news conference about Senate Bill 37 before a Texas Senate Committee on Higher Education hearing at the Capitol in Austin, Tuesday, July 28, 2026.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
Last summer, Texas Tech University eliminated a graduation requirement that required every student to take a multicultural course.
Creighton, the chancellor, also ordered in April that all core and lower-level courses remove topics of sexual orientation or gender identity from their materials. The topics are restricted in upper-level courses.
The policy ended programs “centered on” sexual orientation or gender identity. And it went beyond the classroom, banning future graduate students from writing theses and dissertations on sexual orientation or gender identity. The system made exceptions for student-directed research or professional licensure or patient care requirements.
The rules added to a December memorandum ordering faculty not to advocate or promote race- or sex-based prejudice, including the idea that individuals are inherently racist, sexist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously. The system also directed professors to recognize two sexes in course content.
The AAUP has also sued over the policy on behalf of members at the system’s three universities and two health science centers.
University of North Texas System
UNT has phased out more than 70 programs with low enrollment because of a $45 million budget deficit, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Those include a linguistics degree, a major in Latino and Latin American studies, and a master’s in women’s and gender studies. Minors are also eliminated in Africana, Mexican American, Asian, LGBTQ, and women’s and gender studies.