Texas’ flagship public university is halting new enrollment in three majors centered on gender, sexuality and race, a decision many conservatives are celebrating as a significant win.
Applicants to the University of Texas at Austin can no longer choose Women’s and Gender Studies, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, or African and African Diaspora Studies as their majors, the university confirmed to Fox News Digital. The change comes after other universities have eliminated comparable programs and following contentious internal discussions at UT Austin over the future of its own offerings.
“In recognition of the changing degree offerings in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, the University is no longer enrolling new students in three majors: Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, African and African Diaspora Studies, and Women’s & Gender Studies,” a university spokesman told Fox News Digital.
“So, as you might expect, those majors have been removed from the University’s admissions applications to avoid new students enrolling in majors that are changing. Students currently enrolled in those majors will be able to complete their degree,” the statement continued.
Timur Kuran, a Duke University professor of economics and political science, said on X that he was not surprised by the development. “I don’t know the particulars of UT Austin’s programs. But this news is unsurprising. Across the Anglosphere, ethnic and sexuality studies have long been captured by political activists,” Kuran wrote. “Other state universities, and even private ones, will follow.”
Enrollment levels have figured into the wider debate over the programs, though UT Austin has not publicly identified low enrollment as the reason it stopped accepting new students into the three majors.
The Austin American-Statesman reported earlier this year, citing institutional data, that African and African diaspora studies, Mexican American and Latino studies, women and gender studies, and American studies had a combined enrollment of 307 students.
That total amounted to less than 1% of UT Austin’s 44,315 undergraduate students enrolled in fall 2025.
UT Austin, among the nation’s largest universities, has faced increasing scrutiny from Republican officials at both the state and federal levels over its approach to race, gender and other politically charged issues.
The University of Texas System has also reviewed courses involving gender identity to determine whether they comply with state and federal law and align with the priorities of the Board of Regents.
An internal email obtained by the Austin American-Statesman indicates that, while the majors may be on the way out, much of the coursework could remain.
The plan appears to be to consolidate the defunct majors into a single offering.
“Gender and ethnic studies have transformed the study of the humanities and social sciences, and now they are what they are,” Lisa Moore, the university’s chair of women and gender studies, said prior to the consolidation announcement. “We can’t unknow what we know… It’s just not the case that we can believe that only a small slice of human beings are responsible for everything that’s good about the world.”
Conservatives, unsurprisingly, have a less rosy view of the field.
Steve McGuire, a fellow at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, called axing the majors “the pedagogically responsible thing to do.“
“Excellent news. These programs are not ‘viewpoint diversity.’ They are ridiculous Leftist delusion[s] that have no place in truth-seeking institutions,” J.D. Haltigan, a research fellow at the Centre for Heterodox Social Science, wrote on X. “They should be abolished entirely from every institution of higher-learning.”
Some on the right see this as a sign of things to come.
“Every red state should follow suit with their universities,” independent scholar Varad Mehta wrote on X.
Indeed, a number of universities in red states have already scaled back similar programs.
Texas A&M University, Wichita State University, the University of Iowa and the University of Toledo are among the institutions to make such cuts.
UT Austin did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Friday.