Resources
Additional Information
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Incident Nature:
Course Content
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Incident Political Orientation:
Not Clear -
Incident Responses:
University administration changed university policy as a consequence
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Incident Status:
No litigation
- Did not involve Speech Codes
Summary
In October 2024, the University of North Texas began a review of academic catalog language that preceded revisions to course titles and descriptions. On October 28, 2024, a faculty member in the College of Education informed colleagues that changes were being made to graduate course titles and descriptions and linked the revisions to Texas Senate Bill 17 and legislative direction to review course syllabi for diversity, equity, and inclusion content. SB 17, enacted in 2023, prohibits public universities in Texas from maintaining diversity, equity, and inclusion offices or programs and restricts certain DEI related training, hiring requirements, and institutional practices involving race conscious programming and statements.
In November 2024, the university implemented a system-wide catalog review that resulted in revisions to course titles and descriptions across multiple departments. By November 14, 2024, course listings reflected removal or replacement of terms including race, gender, class, and equity, including in the College of Education where graduate course descriptions were updated through departmental review processes and administrative catalog approval channels that formalized the revised language in official university records.
On November 20, 2024, the American Association of University Professors called on the university to reverse the changes, stating that they represented a departure from academic freedom principles. By November 21, 2024, more than 200 undergraduate and graduate courses had been altered, and the university stated that the revisions were part of routine catalog and curriculum management and were not directly mandated by SB 17, distinguishing catalog language updates from instructional content.
On December 6, 2024, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) sent a letter asserting that the review and alteration of course content raised First Amendment concerns and implicated academic freedom protections where administrative review affected course language and framing. Soon after, the Texas American Federation of Teachers stated that 78 graduate and 130 undergraduate courses had been modified and argued that SB 17 does not extend to instructional content or course descriptions, emphasizing a distinction between statutory compliance requirements and classroom teaching materials.
