Texas universities dropping courses gender, race and other issues

The Hill - Public universities in Texas have dropped hundreds of courses from their core curricula — or altogether — amid rising political pressure over the last two years. Texas A&M University has removed 350 core listings across its system, many dealing with gender, race and other popular GOP targets. The University of Houston has nixed 133 classes from its core curricula, and the University of Texas at Austin has dropped 113.

Professors say students are missing out on subjects relevant to their future careers, and some educators are moving on to private schools, where political winds are less fierce.

Students are required to take a select number of core classes in college in order to graduate. They typically choose from an array of courses to satisfy this requirement, but public universities are increasingly making optional selections that focus on women’s studies, LGBTQ issues, climate change and other left-leaning concepts, leading to the possibility of less student interest in the topics.

Texas A&M announced early this year it was eliminating its entire women’s and gender studies degree program. Texas State University completely removed a course called LGBTQ+ Communication Studies after backlash.