A demonstration at Texas Tech University appears to underscore intensifying battles over diversity, equity, inclusion, and gender-related policies at public universities across the state.<\/p>\n
Students and faculty at Texas Tech are planning a symbolic \u201cfuneral\u201d this week to advocate against new systemwide restrictions on teaching and research related to \u201cgender identity\u201d and sexual orientation, according<\/a> to the Houston Chronicle. The demonstration is set to coincide with a meeting of the university system\u2019s Board of Regents and will include a procession, wake, and press conference organized by campus groups.<\/p>\n The demonstration follows actions by Chancellor Brandon Creighton, who last month announced<\/a> the elimination of academic programs centered on sexual orientation and \u201cgender identity.\u201d The policy also prohibits graduate students from pursuing dissertations on those topics and imposes new teaching limitations that reportedly require hundreds of course changes.<\/p>\n Creighton reportedly said in a letter that the changes are aimed at ensuring coursework is \u201crigorous, relevant, and directly tied to preparing students for success in a 21st-century workforce,\u201d while also reinforcing public trust and institutional competitiveness. Critics, including organizers of the protest, argue the moves represent a broader erosion of academic freedom, describing them as a \u201cdeath by a thousand cuts,\u201d according to the Houston Chronicle.<\/p>\n The developments at Texas Tech come amid a broader statewide push to curb DEI-related initiatives in higher education, following the passage of Senate Bill 17<\/a>, which restricts DEI offices, training, and hiring practices at public institutions.<\/p>\n Creighton, who was at the time a Republican state senator, authored SB 17 in the 2023-2024 legislative session.<\/p>\n Notably, Texas Tech had not been among the universities previously identified as potentially violating the DEI law in a 2024 investigation<\/a> by The Dallas Express, which found several other institutions \u2014 including the University of North Texas \u2014 had job postings or policies that appeared to conflict with the statute at the time.<\/p>\n More recently, scrutiny has shifted heavily toward UNT. On April 10, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced an investigation into the university to determine whether it continues to promote DEI concepts despite legal prohibitions, as previously reported<\/a> by The Dallas Express. The probe was prompted by an undercover video that allegedly showed a staff member describing ways DEI principles could still be taught without explicitly using banned terminology.<\/p>\n In announcing the investigation, Paxton said, \u201cThe DEI ideology has been a calamitous way that radical leftists have pushed a woke agenda in our educational institutions,\u201d and called for the \u201cimmediate termination\u201d of the staff member involved. His office requested extensive documentation from UNT, including internal communications and policy guidance related to DEI compliance.<\/p>\n The UNT investigation builds on earlier scrutiny documented by DX, including a 2024 review of job postings<\/a> and a 2025 inquiry<\/a> into the university\u2019s handling of controversial student activity.<\/p>\n University officials at Texas Tech did not immediately respond to DX\u2018s requests for comment regarding the planned protest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A demonstration at Texas Tech University appears to underscore intensifying battles over diversity, equity, inclusion, and gender-related policies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[11029,4472,3745,1187,168,170,169,3687,1769,2827],"class_list":["post-282310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-academic-freedom","tag-brandon-creighton","tag-dallas-express","tag-gender-identity","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news","tag-sexual-orientation","tag-texas-tech","tag-the-houston-chronicle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}