It looks like Texas is taking a page out of the new Florida playbook.
The Texan reports:
University of North Texas Announces Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office is ‘Dissolved’In the wake of the Texas Legislature passing a ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices and pressure from elected state officials, many universities have had to grapple with shuttering the doors of their social justice-focused departments. One university in Denton has already announced its plans to “dissolve” and reorganize a multitude of departments.The University of North Texas (UNT), located in Denton, serves a population of over 42,000 students.Recently, UNT President Neal Smatresk announced the school’s response to Senate Bill (SB) 17 to the public.The posted statement includes the plans for the Vice President for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access to retire from their position; the office be “dissolved” as well as other “units” within that office to be “transferred” to other departments.“Senior administrators and I are doing our best to create a plan that ensures we will continue to support all our community members’ needs and take advantage of the talented staff members currently within the division by working to reassign them throughout the university in ways that improve our academic community,” Smatresk wrote.UNT now becomes the first Texas university to publicly announce the dismantling of its DEI offices following the passage of SB 17.The school’s Title IX Equal Employment Opportunity, and Affirmative Action departments were also mentioned in the announcement as being transferred to the Division of Finance and Administration.Additionally, the Multicultural Center, Pride Alliance, and “all related programs” were noted as being restructured to “comply with SB 17 and federal law.”SB 17 was a major piece of legislation this past session, and it garnered a wide range of responses from both supporters and opponents.
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