Texas A&M University System Vows to Stop Considering ‘Diversity’ in Hiring, Admissions

Texas A&M University campus in College Station, Texas. Google Street View

The Texas A&M University has joined a growing list of public university systems across the country that will end the use of “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” (DEI) policies in both its hiring and student admissions.

“No university or agency in the A&M System will admit any student, nor hire any employee based on any factor other than merit,” John Sharp, chancellor of The Texas A&M University System, said in a March 2 statement.

Specifically, all faculty and staff openings will be asking applicants to submit no more than a cover letter, statements about their research and teaching philosophies, their curriculum vitae, and a list of professional references. In addition, all A&M system schools and agencies must update all websites and printed materials regarding employment or admission practices to be compliant with the changes.

“The Texas A&M University System will continue its land grant mission by ensuring Texans from all walks of life are served by our institutions,” Sharp said. “We believe serving Texas can be accomplished best by recruiting the brightest and most qualified students, faculty, and staff.”

The A&M system, which encompasses 11 universities and eight state agencies throughout Texas, announced the change in the wake of a warning from Gov. Greg Abbott’s office.

In the letter (pdf) sent to state agency and public university leaders, Abbott’s chief of staff Gardner Pate described DEI as an “innocuous sounding” concept that has been manipulated to “push policies that expressly favor some demographic groups to the detriment of others.”

“Rebranding this employment discrimination as ‘DEI’ doesn’t make the practice any less illegal,” Pate wrote. “Further, when a state agency spends taxpayer dollars to fund offices, departments, or employee positions dedicated to promoting forbidden DEI initiatives, such actions are also inconsistent with the law.”

Meanwhile, the University of Texas (UT) system has also suspended DEI initiatives at its 13 campuses and is reviewing its hiring and admissions policies. Texas Tech University, which doesn’t have an institution-wide DEI policy, has similarly vowed to remove DEI criteria if they are found in any individual department’s hiring practices.

DEI Challenged in Federal Court

The use of DEI standards in hiring is at the core of a Fourteenth Amendment lawsuit, in which Taxes A&M is accused of discriminating against white and Asian male applicants.

America First Legal, a group founded by longtime Donald Trump adviser Stephen Miller, filed the complaint last September on behalf of Richard Lowery, an associate professor of finance at UT-Austin. In the complaint (pdf), Lowery claimed that the A&M has prevented him from fairly competing for open positions by unlawfully labeling white and Asian men as “inferior faculty candidates.”

“The Texas A&M University System, along with nearly every university in the United States, discriminates on account of race and sex when hiring its faculty, by giving discriminatory preferences to female or non-Asian minorities at the expense of white and Asian men,” the complaint stated, noting that the DEI agenda has led those institutions to hire and promote “inferior faculty candidates over individuals with better scholarship, better credentials, and better teaching ability.”

Alleging violations of Fourteenth Amendment and federal anti-discrimination laws, Lowery asked the court to block A&M “from considering race or sex when appointing or compensating its faculty.” He also wanted the court to oversee the university’s hiring decisions in the foreseeable future.