{"id":2213021,"date":"2024-04-04T13:18:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T17:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/at-least-60-staffers-laid-off-at-university-of-texas-as-dei-ban-takes-effect\/"},"modified":"2024-04-04T13:18:33","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T17:18:33","slug":"at-least-60-staffers-laid-off-at-university-of-texas-as-dei-ban-takes-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/at-least-60-staffers-laid-off-at-university-of-texas-as-dei-ban-takes-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 60 Employees Let Go at University of Texas Due to DEI Policy Enforcement"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fat-least-60-staffers-laid-off-at-university-of-texas-as-dei-ban-takes-effect%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2213021&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The University \u200bof Texas at Austin \u2062laid off\u2062 60 employees following\u2062 the \u2063implementation of a Texas law banning DEI programs. President\u200b Jay\u2063 Hartzell\u2063 announced significant organizational changes to comply with Senate Bill\u2063 17, \u200dprohibiting DEI offices and roles. Funding\u200c previously allocated to\u2062 DEI will now support\u200b teaching \u200cand research, leading \u200dto shifts in faculty and \u200cstaff positions. The University of Texas at Austin recently \u2063laid off 60 employees\u200c due to \u200ca Texas \u200claw that prohibits DEI \u200bprograms. President Jay Hartzell introduced major organizational adjustments\u200c to \u2062adhere to Senate Bill 17, \u2063which\u2062 prohibits \u2062DEI positions. Former DEI funding will now be directed towards teaching and \u200dresearch, resulting in changes to faculty and staff roles.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The University of Texas at Austin reportedly laid off at least 60 employees in positions related to diversity, equity, and inclusion after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/texas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Texas<\/a> law banning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dei\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">DEI<\/a> programs and offices at public universities took effect. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">UT Austin announced this week major organizational changes to comply with the state\u2019s DEI law, <a href=\"https:\/\/capitol.texas.gov\/tlodocs\/88R\/billtext\/pdf\/SB00017F.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Senate Bill 17<\/a>, which went into effect in January. The law, signed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott in June 2023, prohibits public colleges in the state from establishing DEI offices and hiring DEI officers. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a Tuesday <a href=\"https:\/\/president.utexas.edu\/organizational-changes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">letter<\/a> to staff and students, UT Austin President Jay Hartzell said that the school\u2019s Division of Campus and Community Engagement, once known as the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, would close.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cSoon after the passage last year of Senate Bill 17 \u2014 which prohibits many activities around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) \u2014 the University embarked on a multiphase process to review campus portfolios and end or redesign the policies, programs, trainings, and roles affected by the new law,\u201d Hartzell said. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cAdditionally, funding used to support DEI across campus prior to SB 17\u2019s effective date will be redeployed to support teaching and research,\u201d he added. \u201cAs part of this reallocation, associate or assistant deans who were formerly focused on DEI will return to their full-time faculty positions. The positions that provided support for those associate and assistant deans and a small number of staff roles across campus that were formerly focused on DEI will no longer be funded.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Austin American Statesman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statesman.com\/story\/news\/politics\/state\/2024\/04\/02\/texas-senate-bill-17-anti-dei-ut-fires-four-staff-related-positions-two-sources-confirm\/73179902007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> that \u201cat least 60 staff members\u201d have already been laid off due to the new law. According to Hartzell, employees whose DEI positions are being eliminated would be given the opportunity to apply for other open positions at UT-Austin. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" aria-describedby=\"sk-tooltip-9096\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1700760801843000&#038;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The layoffs come after state Senator Brandon Creighton <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/n9dSp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">wrote<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  a letter last week informing Texas university leadership that the state Senate would be conducting oversight to ensure that they were complying with the law. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWhen Texas taxpayer dollars are used to fund offices, departments, or employee positions dedicated to promoting DEI initiatives, rather than basing decisions on merit, that is not only inappropriate, it is inconsistent with state law,\u201d said Creighton. \u201cNow that SB 17 is law, I\u2019m confident that Texas public colleges and universities can return to their core mission of innovation and education\u2014 and if they do not, the Texas Senate will be resolute in enforcement of this legislation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Republican-led states across the country, from Florida to Alabama, have enacted bans on DEI in higher education amid criticism of schools prioritizing identity over education and merit. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The University of Texas at Austin recently laid off over 60 employees in diversity, equity, and inclusion roles following the implementation of a Texas law prohibiting DEI initiatives at public universities. UT Austin made significant organizational adjustments to adhere to Senate Bill 17, the state&#8217;s new DEI legislation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":2213022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-654557978.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2213021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-654557978.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2213021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2213022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2213021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2213021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2213021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}