The Texas Senate months ago passed a bill banning diversity programs in public universities, which will go into effect in January 2024. On July 17, the bill was signed by Governor Greg Abbott. The University of North Texas became one of the first to publicly announce plans to dissolve the offices of diversity, equity and inclusion.
“Effective Aug. 13, the offices of Title IX, Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action will move to the Division of Finance and Administration. This allows those offices to continue to work with autonomy as they investigate our community’s adherence to federal and state laws as well as university policy,”university President Neal Smatresk said in a statement.
BREAKING NEWS: In an official notice emailed Tuesday morning, UNT President Neal Smatresk announced the dissolution of the Division of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access. Vice President of IDEA Joanne Woodard will also be retiring when the office is dissolved. Story to come. pic.twitter.com/I6VlrBNatO
— North Texas Daily (@ntdaily) August 1, 2023
Smatresk detailed a series of measures the university will take to comply with the recently passed Senate Bill 17. "Our leadership team has been working hard to make sure we continue to support our diverse student body, faculty, and staff in our values-based environment. As a university committed to the education of Texans, we will remain steadfast in living our values and serving our diverse community," Smatresk said.
The University of North Texas became the first to publicly announce plans to dissolve its offices of diversity, equity and inclusion. The state university system said it would pause diversity and inclusion policies at its 13 universities but not close all departments, according to NBC.
