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EDINBURG – The UT Board of Regents has announced that new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion hiring policies have been placed on pause at all 13 UT system campuses across Texas.
At a board meeting on Feb. 22, Chairman Kevin Eltife announced the UT system would comply with the Texas legislature to revise current DEI policies and implement a new uniform policy.
The decision comes weeks after Gov. Greg Abbott warned state agencies and public universities against continuing to use DEI policies for hiring as they violate federal and state employment laws.
Assistant professor at UT, Vox Jo Hsu, says that this decision could lead to possible consequences for the environment of UT.
“It is actually very important to have diverse people, instructors, students all around so that they can think together about pressing social problems,” said Hsu. “So, it’s going to be hugely detrimental to the university’s prestige, to its student body.”
UTRGV Vice President for Marketing and Communications, Patrick Gonzales, states that regardless of what will come of the review of DEI policies, UTRGV will maintain its core principles and values for hiring.
“We will continue to celebrate diversity, strive for diversity on our campuses […] we’ll see what comes out of this UT system review, but for right now we continue progressing and operating as normal,” said Gonzales.
There is no information about what specifically will be reviewed at UT-system campuses or how reviews of DEI policies will be conducted. UTRGV will wait for further orders from the UT Board of Regents.
