On January 13, 2025, Texas A&M University (TAMU) announced that it was withdrawing from its participation in a conference aimed at supporting historically underrepresented students. The announcement came following public pressure from Texas governor Greg Abbott.
As in previous years, TAMU had planned to send several staff members and PhD students to an annual conference held by the PhD Project, an organization that aims to increase classroom and workplace diversity. The annual conference, scheduled for March 2025 in Chicago, emphasizes networking and mentoring for students with backgrounds that are historically marginalized. According to the PhD Project’s website, students must identify as “Black/African American, Latinx/Hispanic America, or Native American/Canadian Indigenous” in order to apply. TAMU’s lawyer’s had found that TAMU could participate in the conference under recruitment-related exceptions to Senate Bill 17, which prohibits public colleges and universities from having diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices and holding activities and programs related to DEI.
On January 13, conservative activist Christopher Rufo posted to X “EXCLUSIVE: Texas A&M is sponsoring a trip to a DEI conference that prohibits whites and Asians from attending. The university falsely claims that this use of taxpayer funds does not violate the state’s DEI ban.” Someone commented on Rufo’s post asking Governor Abbot and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton whether they would accept TAMU’s participation in the PhD Project’s conference. Governor Abbott responded, “Hell, no. It’s against Texas law and violates the US Constitution. It will be fixed immediately or the president will soon be gone.”
Following the exchange, TAMU President Mark A. Welsh III announced that the university would no longer participate in the conference, writing, “While the proper process for reviewing and approving attendance at such events was followed, I don’t believe we fully considered the spirit of our state law in making the initial decision to participate….This particular conference’s limitations on the acceptable race of attendees is not in line with the intent of SB-17, and, as a result, we will not be sending anyone to participate in this conference.”
Subsequently, eight other public Texas universities – Texas Tech University, University of Houston, University of North Texas, University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at Dallas, University of Texas at El Paso, University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley and University of Texas at San Antonio – also withdrew from the PhD Project conference. The University of Texas system further directed five of its institutions to withdraw their membership from the PhD Project.
Scholars at Risk is concerned about ideologically driven, government encroachments on universities’ authority to make decisions concerning personnel, admissions, curricula, and the establishment of particular programs. Such actions undermine university autonomy and inhibit institutions’ ability to function freely, undermining academic freedom and democratic society generally. Moreover, actions targeting diversity and social justice efforts may also erode core university values including social responsibility and equitable access.
Sources:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/diversity/race-ethnicity/2025/01/16/texas-am-wont-attend-conference-after-rufo-abbott-posts
https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/14/texas-greg-abbott-am-mark-welsh-dei/
https://thebatt.com/news/am-pulls-out-of-recruiting-conference-after-dei-claims-swirl-online/