The University of Texas at Austin has removed women’s, gender, and sexuality studies courses from its core curriculum requirements effective next semester. The provost’s office rejected all such courses from counting toward graduation requirements.
Department chair Danielle Clealand informed faculty on Tuesday that the Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) will be consolidated into the Social and Cultural Analysis Department along with African and African Diaspora Studies, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, and American Studies. The university also eliminated dozens of race-focused courses from core qualifications.
The affected courses include “Mexican American Women from 1940 — present,” “Women and the Holocaust,” “Intro to African American Women’s History,” “LGBTQ Literature and Culture,” and “Native American Women’s History.”
These courses remain available at UT but no longer count toward graduation requirements. The university is implementing a new core curriculum that will launch in fall 2028, requiring all students to take Western civilization, humanities, and artificial intelligence courses.
Former WGSS chair Lisa Moore described the changes as “blatant viewpoint discrimination,” according to university sources.
UT was founded in 1883 with only two departments: Law and Academic, which included six schools such as “Mental and Moral Philosophy and Political Science.”
