BUZZ
The Texas Tech University regents eliminated several “social justice” classes from the core curriculum during a meeting Wednesday, including one titled “Intersectionalities: Race, Class, and Gender in a Global World.”
In total, the university leaders removed 21 classes from the list of core courses that students must choose from to meet graduation requirements, The Texas Tribune reports.
By comparing the newly approved list to the current core offerings, The Tribune identified several classes on race and gender that the regents removed.
These included “a literature class focused on social justice and the environment, a women’s and gender studies course exploring race, class and gender, and a class on the Holocaust in literature and film,” according to the report.
“Literature, Social Justice, and the Environment” is the name of one of the classes, The College Fix found. According to the course description, it involves “critical study and writing about literary texts from multiple genres, periods, and traditions in relation to aspects of social justice and the environment.”
The eliminated class on “Intersectionalities” focuses on the “study of women’s experiences as influenced by such social statuses and identities as race, class, and global status,” the course description states.
Also eliminated were the classes “The Vampire in East European and Western Culture” and “Yoga and Creative Arts: Philosophy and Practice.”
However, the regents did not eliminate all gender or ethnic studies courses.
The core curriculum still will allow students to choose an “Introduction to Women’s Studies” class to fulfill the “Language, Philosophy, and Culture” course requirement.
Another still on the list is “Social Change in the Hispanic World,” which studies “culture and social change in Spanish, Latin American, Latinx, and U.S.-Mexico Border cultures through different cultural expressions such as language, text, image, and music.”
The regents’ meeting agenda explained that the changes stem from a mandatory review of the core curriculum every five years.
As the Tribune reports, “Faculty committees and leaders at the system’s three general academic universities began reviewing core courses in May to comply with a 2025 state law requiring regents to examine the classes students must take to graduate …”
Texas Senate Bill 37 gave public universities’ boards of regents oversight powers to review curricula and degree programs, a change that prompted faculty complaints about academic freedom.
However, a Texas Public Policy Foundation leader previously told The Fix that the oversight is needed due to the “culture of ideological indoctrination that has proliferated” on taxpayer-funded campuses across the state.
Other public universities across Texas also have been making cuts to gender studies programs. In February, Texas A&M announced plans to end its Women’s and Gender Studies bachelor’s degree and graduate certificate programs, citing policies and “limited student interest,” The Fix reported at the time.
MORE: Texas conservatives defend decision for DEI audit of UT system’s gender studies courses
