UTD is on track to become the next Texas public school to cut gender and cultural studies, among other topics under scrutiny from state legislators, from its core curriculum.
Over the past month, UTD faculty have been brought into meetings with the office of the provost to discuss the core curriculum — the general list of requirements all UTD students must complete — and whether the courses in their department will be allowed to remain as a core option. Since the start of the UT System gender audit last fall, courses in UTD’s School of Interdisciplinary Studies and the Bass school have been under particular scrutiny. Associate Vice President for Curricular Services Eric Van Leeuwen told faculty on the core curriculum committee that in order to stop a course on the “short-list” from being cut, they would have to suggest another course to cut in its place.
Core cuts are not new to Texas this academic year: the A&M system cut over 350 courses across all of its schools from its core earlier this month; the University of Houston cut 133 courses from its core curriculum, about 45% of classes offered in the core; and UT Austin proposed a 113 course cut from the core.
University administrators at other institutions have argued that the cuts are intended to bring universities into compliance with SB 37. A&M Regent Robert Albritton told KBTX-3, a local news outlet in College Station, that “When [state legislators] come out with an SB 37… that basically guidelines what you can and cannot do, then we have to adhere to that.” SB 37 went into effect Sept. 1, 2025, and — among other things like the removal of Academic Senates — requires that public institutions conduct a core curriculum review reported to the state every five years.
UTD associate professor of history Anne Gray Fischer said that while she was not directly involved in the course review process, she was concerned about the lack of transparency that surrounded the current review system.
“What I am hearing from my colleagues is that the Provost’s office is running cuts to the core [curriculum] in a rushed and opaque way,” Fischer said. “Nobody has even announced or explained these cuts. Nobody understands why we are cutting these classes: students love the wide range of options, they are a great value for the school, and sustain the humanities on campus … I don’t know how this [review] committee was formed but I do know that the most directly impacted schools are represented by the most vulnerable faculty. The rushed timeline plus the lack of transparency seem to be by design: to push through these cuts without student and faculty buy-in.”
American Studies for the Twenty-First Century and Introduction to Gender Studies are among the many courses up for elimination from the core in the coming weeks. The elimination of these courses would cause further complications since they are both offered by the School of Interdisciplinary Studies which currently only offers three total core curriculum courses — if removed IS will only have one core curriculum offering. The Retrograde reached out to Van Leeuwen and Provost Marc Christensen for comment, neither of whom replied to immediate requests for comment. The Retrograde will provide a list of all courses UTD plans to cut from the core curriculum as soon as administrators provide one.
In the records obtained by The Retrograde, none of the stated reasons from the provost’s office for cutting a course related to gender or race. Van Leeuwen’s notes to faculty focused on topics like “Unverifiable Core Objective Attainment,” “Sole Dependency on Core Designation,” and “Enrollment.”
Criminology senior Jasmine Kouhestani — who served on the university-wide core curriculum committee as a representative of Student Government — said no details about possible curriculum cuts had been shared with the students serving on the core curriculum committee.
SG president and neuroscience senior David Baker said that he was worried about how the core review was proceeding.
“I’m very concerned about the possibility of these classes being removed since they offer unique topics that are often under, if not never seen in other classes,” Baker said.
On Sept. 30, 2025, the UT System announced its first ever ‘gender audit’ to “review courses on gender identity at all UT institutions to ensure compliance and alignment with applicable law and state and federal guidance.” The audit itself was shrouded in secrecy with no official statements coming from schools like UTD regarding the scope, purpose or criteria of the audit. Now UTD is targeting core curriculum courses which happen to overlap with those same gender-related courses.
“What do you expect from the same university that covered up the Pride wall earlier this year?” history senior Alex L said.
The officers of Pride@UTD, UTD’s largest LGBTQ+ student social group, said that their organization was incredibly “frustrated” with the proposed removal of cultural and gender studies courses from the core curriculum.
“We are concerned about the precedent this sets for the removal of further classes,” a spokesperson for Pride@UTD said. “Courses like these provide important context on often overlooked history, systemic oppression and cultural identities, and their removal only reinforces the continued lack of information and understanding on these subjects.”
Criminology senior Cameron Iliff said that their time taking gender studies classes at UTD had always been one “of the most enjoyable and enriching experiences in my nearly four years at UTD.” Iliff said they felt like classes like these as part of the core curriculum introduced new opportunities to students.
“The possibility that experiences like these might be limited for future students is, frankly, disheartening,” Iliff said. “I continue to be disappointed in the university’s willingness to keep students from pursuing fulfilling and diverse courses of study.”
Animation and Games senior A. Rachel Gonzalez said that they had taken classes dedicated to queer history as part of their graduation requirements and that they worried subjects like that would be next on the university’s chopping block if the removal of IS courses went through.
“I personally believe these classes should still be considered part of the core curriculum,” Gonzalez said. “I took classes like these to fulfill my own core requirements — classes that had absolutely nothing to do with my major at all, and yet they were vital to my education. Like most core electives, these classes are completely optional. But if we remove them as core options, we risk losing these topics to obscurity. We risk losing access to history as we replace it with censorship and suppression.”
The proposed removal of some gender and cultural courses from the core is only the most recent attack against higher education in the state. What remains to be seen is whether students and faculty will accept the proposed change, or if the university will backtrack. Students like political science senior Akiva Ward are left wondering if students will be able to learn key skills in a system that does not let them learn about gender or critically engage with American culture.
“As a school that serves such a diverse population of future educators, lawyers and academics, UTD’s decision to axe so much of the gender and American studies curriculum is disappointing and irresponsible,” Ward said. “These programs encourage empathy and critical thought, skills needed to become successful leaders and intellectuals. As a public research university, UTD should be carving out the future of the social sciences and humanities, instead of bending to the whims of a conservative political administration.”
This is a breaking news article. The Retrograde will provide additional information on all courses being cut and additional details as information comes in.