Alec Rodriguez EDINBURG – The University of Texas System is expected to audit UTRGV’s gender studies courses soon to comply with the Board of Regents priorities and Texas law.
KVAQ-TV received an email from Patrick Gonzales, the University Marketing and Communications Vice President, regarding when audits would take place at UTRGV. He stated:
“As for right now, the audits have not started. But that could change at any moment.”
It comes after the Texas Tech University System directed its faculty across five universities to halt discussion on transgender and nonbinary identities after House Bill 229 went into effect on Sept. 1. House Bill 229 defines what biological sex is, indicating that “mother” means a parent of the female sex and “father” means a parent of the male sex.
At least 10 departments at UTRGV offer a variety of courses on gender studies throughout the academic year including U.S. gender politics, gender theory, music and gender, psychology of gender, food and gender, and many others.
Political Science Professor, Mark Kaswan, said the bill is an ideological debate.
“They have this idea that everyone is born as having a particular sex identification and that is immutable and unchangeable,” Kaswan said. “And that’s, and that’s just not true. But, there’s a belief that’s mostly on one side, anyway, driven by religious, you know, orientation. And there’s a belief by by people who generally by folks who identify as conservative.”
In a statement sent to KVAQ-TV, from the UT System, reviews for other UT institutions have been ongoing and will “be discussed at the November Board of Regents meeting.”
