UT Austin students protest layoffs over new DEI ban

Students at the University of Texas at Austin protested Thursday after the school laid off more than 60 staff members to comply with Texas’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) ban that went into effect earlier this year.

About 200 students at the university disrupted a virtual faculty council meeting conducted by the university’s president Monday to oppose the layoffs, NBC News reported.

The Texas State Employees Union posted on the social media platform X that a rally would be happening on UT Austin’s campus midday Thursday to rally “in solidarity with those who were abruptly fired from positions formerly associated with DEI.”

The decision, the group said, “leaves the staff unemployed as of July and deeply impacts a wide range of programs that serve our campus community.”

The university recently laid off 60 employees who worked in DEI-related fields, including 40 who were in the Division of Campus and Community Engagement.

The layoffs come as the school looks to comply with Senate Bill 17, a law that banned DEI initiatives at public universities in the state that went into effect earlier this year.

The school’s president, Jay Hartzell, said in an email that the institutions knew the changes were coming before the start of the year.

“We knew that more work would be required to utilize our talent and resources most effectively in support of our teaching and research missions, and ultimately, our students,” Hartzell wrote.

The students who disrupted the faculty meeting said they wanted to show Hartzell they want transparency and communication.

Other state public institutions have also faced intense scrutiny to prove compliance with the law. State Sen. Brandon Creighton told university leaders that institutions could lose funding if they don’t follow the law.