<\/p>\n The Texas Tech University System serves approximately 64,000 students across Texas Tech University, Angelo State University, Midwestern State University, and two Health Sciences Centers, according<\/a> to Erin in the Morning. That means the impact of the memo could stretch far beyond one campus.<\/p>\n What the Memo Says<\/p>\n The document, titled \u201cTexas Tech University System Course Content Guidelines,\u201d was reportedly sent this month to presidents of all five universities in the system.<\/p>\n It was issued by Chancellor Brandon Creighton, a former Republican state senator known for authoring Texas\u2019 ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at public universities, as well as a campus protest restriction law later blocked by a federal judge as unconstitutional.<\/p>\n According to the memo, they will be establishing a phase-out process for academic programs centered on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI).<\/p>\n The document states that the system is initiating closure procedures for all academic programs \u201ccentered on\u201d sexual orientation and gender identity, including undergraduate majors, minors, certificates, and graduate degrees. Currently enrolled students would be allowed to complete their studies through a teach-out process, but future academic credentials in those fields would no longer be offered.<\/p>\n Critics say the move represents one of the most sweeping recent restrictions on LGBTQ+ academic subject matter in higher education.<\/p>\n Restrictions on Course Content<\/p>\n The memo<\/a> goes beyond degree programs.<\/p>\n It also introduces course content thresholds limiting how LGBTQ+ topics may appear in classrooms. According to the reported language, core and lower-level undergraduate courses would face a strict prohibition on sexual orientation and gender identity content, with alternate materials required if assigned texts center on or substantially include those topics.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses would receive narrow exemptions, but only under tightly defined academic purposes.<\/p>\n The memorandum further states that only two human sexes, male and female, are legally recognized, and says instructors may not teach gender identity as a spectrum, endorse more than two genders, or separate gender from biological sex as a factual baseline.<\/p>\n While the memo permits instruction on intersex conditions, genetics, endocrinology, and Differences of Sex Development, it reportedly bars faculty from using those biological realities to validate what it describes as fluid gender identities.<\/p>\n RELATED: Ethics Course Canceled Over LGBTQ and Race Topics as Professor Pushes Back<\/a><\/p>\n Why Critics Are Concerned<\/p>\n To LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and advocates, the concern is larger than course catalogs.<\/p>\n Universities have long been spaces where students encounter new ideas, study identity and culture, and pursue research rooted in lived experience. Limiting LGBTQ+ topics in coursework or dismantling related academic programs raises questions about intellectual freedom, scholarly independence, and whether queer students are being told their experiences are inappropriate for study.<\/p>\n The memo also lands during a broader political climate in Texas and across the United States where debates over gender identity, DEI programs, and classroom content have become flashpoints.<\/p>\n Critics argue these policies could create a chilling effect, where faculty may avoid relevant scholarship entirely rather than risk violating unclear rules.<\/p>\n![\"texas\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dei.png\")
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