Director of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Texas, Lisa Moore browses books from the Ana Sisnett Library, shelved in Burdine Hall, Feb. 18, 2026. After UT shuttered the department along and folded its offerings into a new Department of Social Analysis, officials are considering cutting an LGBTQ minor.
Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman
After closing ethnic and gender studies departments over the summer, the University of Texas College of Liberal Arts is recommending UT cut its LGBTQ minor and Race, Indigeneity and Migration major, according to an internal college document obtained by the Austin American-Statesman.
The LGBTQ minor was previously offered under the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Department, and the race major was part of the African and African Diaspora Studies Department. In the fall, each department’s offerings will be folded into a new Department of Social and Cultural Analysis. Both are still available to students this year.
Article continues below this ad
The recommendation document — titled “Department of Social and Cultural Analysis Degree Program Proposal” — is unsigned and not dated. Faculty in the department received a copy of the plan Thursday afternoon from Danielle Clealand, who chairs the new academic unit. In her message, Clealand wrote that the proposal was sent from the College of Liberal Arts dean to the provost’s office.
Two faculty members confirmed that though faculty were consulted on the elimination of the race major, Clealand did not approve or suggest the elimination of the LGBTQ minor.
Clealand and UT did not respond to requests for comment.
When UT President Jim Davis announced consolidation in February, he said the university would also review the departments’ curricular offerings. It is not clear when Provost William Inboden could make a final decision on the future of the major and minor.
Article continues below this ad
Want more Longhorn news? Sign up for our free biweekly newsletter Inside UT for the Forty Acres rundown!
The proposed cuts come as universities across the state eliminate courses or programs related to LGBTQ topics and as conservative lawmakers target professors for teaching about gender identity. Texas Tech University System, led by former Republican state Sen. Brandon Creighton, banned the teaching of more than two genders on campus. Texas A&M University and Texas Tech have both cut their women’s and gender studies departments.
No state law bans the teaching of gender or race in public universities and colleges, and all major medical organizations recognize the existence of transgender individuals.
The proposal states that while department faculty feel there is “intellectual justification” for retaining all current degree and minor offerings, the LGBTQ minor and race major would be “duplicative” of other offerings, including a new major in the works.
Article continues below this ad
A plan for changing the new department’s offerings will be finalized this academic year with faculty input, the proposal states. In fall 2025, nine students were enrolled in the LGBTQ studies minor, according to records used by the consolidation committee. The number of students enrolled in the Race, Indigeneity and Migration major was not publicly available.
UT began offering the LGBTQ studies minor in 2017. Under the program, students can take classes in Black queer art, LGBTQ history at UT, LGBTQ oppression and masculinity.
The Race, Indigeneity and Migration major opened within the African and African Diaspora department in 2020. It focuses on the history, politics and culture of North American racial and ethnic groups, and students pursuing the major take classes in Native American history, migration and refugees and environmental justice.
“The university has repeatedly justified the consolidation of academic programs by suggesting it is not an elimination,” said Cameron Samuels, a UT graduate student who is the executive director of Students Engaged in Advancing Texas.
Article continues below this ad
SEAT is a student-led organization that advocates for academic freedom. It has staged funeral protests at universities across the state to protest the threats its members believe universities are facing.
What else would UT keep?
The proposal recommends forming a new Social and Cultural Analysis major with six “tracks” students can take. The tracks would span American and urban studies; Comparative race and ethnicity; Gender, sexuality, and justice; Indigeneity; Migration; and Teaching Social and Cultural Analysis.
The memo recommended retaining three current degree programs — American Studies, African and African Diaspora Studies and Mexican American and Latina/o Studies — for the “time being” because of their “significant history both at UT and across academia.” All of UT’s peer institutions have majors in these fields and 150 students are currently pursuing the degrees, the proposal stated.
Article continues below this ad
The writers of the proposal also suggested the department continue offering Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies as a major. Despite being the newest and lowest-enrolling major in the new department, the major is “growing” and has “analogues at all the universities in our peer group.”
“In order to continue to recruit the best faculty and students, and to prepare our students for advanced degrees, we should offer degree programs that are analogous to those at the best universities in the country,” the report said. “ UT’s position as an economic driver for the city, state, and region is dependent on the university’s ongoing ability to bring in top faculty all across its wide range of departments.”