The resignation of Texas A&M President Mark Welsh after a taped classroom controversy has intensified scrutiny of problems stemming from diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across Texas universities. Critics say the problems are not limited to College Station but extend throughout the state’s higher education system.
At the University of North Texas (UNT), a student reported that she faced harassment after defending conservative speaker Charlie Kirk and said administrators failed to protect her. Texas Scorecard reported on the harassment of Mary-Catherine Hallmark, who was staffing a Turning Point USA table on campus.
She recorded a student collecting materials from the table and tearing them up as he walked away. “You all should burn in hell,” he’s heard saying.
Texas state Rep. Andy Hopper noted, “I am told there were NO UNT Campus police officers nearby, which is shocking to me given what has transpired.”
At Texas State University, the university’s Center for Diversity and Gender Studies came under fire. According to Texas Scorecard, the center “promotes radical ideologies” through its programs and courses, advancing gender theory and racial activism.
These reports fueled renewed criticism from lawmakers and commentators who argue that DEI ideology has spread unchecked across taxpayer-supported campuses. Podcaster Chris Salcedo echoed that sentiment, calling DEI an abuse of public resources:
Taxpayers shouldn’t be funding gov-ed or “higher” ed apparatchiks to come into to Texas and find new and inventive ways to “get around” the laws in an effort to push unscientific & woke B.S.! If they want to push “crazy,” DO IT ON THEIR OWN DAMN DIME, not Texas taxpayer’s dime.
DEI remains a problem at Texas A&M as well where critics have recently exposed troubling curricular practices. The Women’s & Gender Studies program is now offering courses this fall that promote feminism, LGBT ideology, and Marxist texts, including a class using a textbook containing writings by Karl Marx and Mao Tse-tung.
Meanwhile, the university’s interim president James Hallmark has publicly defended DEI initiatives as part of “student success,” signaling the administration may continue supporting ideological programs even under scrutiny.
Bo French, a former state House candidate and chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, explains there is also a DEI problem at Texas Christian University, a private college in Fort Worth:
the chair of the department promoting extreme degeneracy and the department promoting rabid anti white racism is now going to be in charge of hiring. I am sure she will really seek out white Christian conservatives instead of gay race communists to be professors.
The wave of criticism has prompted Texas lawmakers to announce hearings on free speech and governance in higher education. Dustin Burrows, the speaker of the Texas House who announced the hearings along with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, said “The political assassination of Charlie Kirk—and the national reaction it has sparked, including the public celebration of his murder by some in higher education—is appalling and reveals a deeper, systemic problem worth examining.”
With multiple universities under scrutiny, observers expect DEI battles to dominate higher-ed policy debates when the Texas Legislature reconvenes.
