Gender and women’s studies have been a mainstay of most universities for decades. But on Friday, Texas A&M University – one of the largest public schools in the country – announced that its entire program would be wiped out.
University officials canceled six classes outright for the spring semester after they reviewed 5,400 course syllabi to ensure they aligned with new policies that limit how race and gender ideology can be discussed in classrooms, according to the Texas Tribune.
Leonard Bright, president of the American Association of University Professors, saw his own ethics course eliminated because of the same rules. “I have never seen anything like this,” Bright, who is also a professor in A&M’s Bush School of Government and Public Service, told the New York Times.
The interdisciplinary program, which relies on professors from other departments to teach courses, has 25 students seeking a major and 31 seeking a minor. No new students will be accepted, although the students already enrolled will be able to finish out the program.
Interim President Tommy Williams and other university officials said the decision came down because of low enrollment and cost, according to an email obtained by the Tribune. “We know this is devastating news,” the administrators wrote. “One of the primary duties of university administrators is to be good stewards of public money. Even the smallest programs require ongoing investment in faculty time, staff support and administrative oversight.”
But last year, Republicans seized on a video taken by an A&M student of a gender studies teacher talking about a “gender unicorn,” which teaches the differences between gender identity, expression and sexuality.
After that incident, the university Board of Regents passed a new policy limiting how race and gender could be discussed in class — faculty cannot advocate “race or gender ideology” or discuss sexual orientation or gender identity — and ordered a comprehensive review of all syllabi.
Sociology professor Chaitanya Lakkimsetti, who teaches a graduate feminist theory seminar at A&M, said the decision amounted to a silencing of academic freedom.
“We have to keep fighting and standing up for our students’ right to have an education that is critical for the times they live in,” she told the Tribune.
