Texas Tech Activists Stage Funeral Over Cuts to Gender Ideology Program

Texas Tech Activists Stage Funeral Over Cuts to Gender Ideology Program

For the left, everything is an opportunity for theater.

Campus Reform reports:

Texas Tech activists stage funeral over gender ideology program cuts

Students and faculty at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, hosted a mock funeral to mourn the “death” of academic freedom after the school ended programs focused on gender ideology.

The protest occurred on May 7, featuring a press conference that organizers described as a “eulogy.”

A procession also wound through the university campus, with veiled students and faculty members following a horse-drawn carriage that carried books and an urn. It took place during a meeting of the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents.

James Snoddy, founder of Raiders Against Censorship, a coalition claiming to fight for “academic freedom” at Texas Tech, emphasized the group’s commitment to the event.

“In lieu of flowers, we ask participants to bring objects representing the blessed memory of academic freedom,” Snoddy said, according to the Houston Chronicle. “This is not symbolic exaggeration; this is a serious response to a year of decisions that threaten the integrity of our universities.”

Raiders Against Censorship echoed that message in a joint Instagram post.

“The university is dead,” the post said. “Students are mourning academic freedom. Funeral programs 8am-1pm.”

Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT), a student activist organization, partnered with Raiders Against Censorship for the event. They reportedly provided students with black hats, gloves, and veils, symbolizing “death by a thousand cuts” to academic freedom in Texas.

The protest comes after Chancellor of the Texas Tech University System Brandon Creighton’s announcement that the system is ending academic programs that focus on sexual orientation and gender identity, including theses and dissertations.

In a statement to Campus Reform, the Texas Tech University System emphasized its commitment to academic integrity.

“The Texas Tech University System currently offers one of the most deliberative and thorough curriculum review processes of any university system in America,” the university said. “Following the review process, less than three percent of available courses required revision.”

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