UT Community Raises Concerns About Department Consolidations

Áine McGehee Marley, a third-year Ph.D. student in UT’s African and African Diaspora Studies department, said another student informed her that the university had officially confirmed the consolidation of several race, ethnic, and gender studies departments before she or her department had received any notification.

“It’s definitely a choice to send something out like that and not actually tell the people directly involved [first],” she said. “A freshman had to tell me that consolidation officially happened, which feels really disrespectful on [the] administration’s part.”

On Feb. 12, UT President Jim Davis sent out an email notice to faculty, staff, and students announcing the consolidation of African and African Diaspora Studies, American Studies, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies into the newly established Department of Social and Cultural Analysis.

“I know that the prospect of change has prompted some concern, but it is important to bear in mind that many subjects worthy of research and teaching do not necessarily need to be isolated as their own small academic departments,” Davis wrote in the email. 

Additionally, French and Italian, Germanic Studies, and Slavic and Eurasian Studies departments will merge into a new Department of European and Eurasian Studies. Last Wednesday, May 20, staged as a funeral for academic freedom, students and advocates gathered at UT’s campus to demonstrate against the consolidations and suppression of diverse topics within the institution.

McGehee Marley, whose research focuses on tourism, labor, and migration, said she moved across the country for the program because she wanted to work in a more specialized department with accomplished faculty. Now, she said she worries the consolidation could contribute to talented UT faculty and students beginning to leave the university for other institutions, what McGehee Marley calls a “brain drain.”

“AADS at UT was the biggest Black Studies department in the country, and I’m going to be really upset if some of those [top professors] leave, because [they were] probably the largest consideration I made when choosing this place,” McGehee Marley said. 

Some students, like Madee Puente-Bonilla, a second-year dual master’s student in Information Studies and Women’s & Gender Studies, said they are being affected not only by the consolidation of UT’s ethnic and gender studies departments, but also by the recent consolidation of the School of Information.

Approved in February by the UT System Board of Regents, the School of Information will be merged with the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Statistics and Data Sciences into a new school focused on computing and artificial intelligence.

UT students and advocates gather to call for academic freedom at the university Credit: CCR Studios

Puente-Bonilla, whose research focuses on how Latina soldiers are represented in archives and war histories and who hopes to pursue library science, said her academic journey has been marked by major policy shifts affecting higher education in Texas. 

She said the passage of Senate Bill 17, which banned diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and initiatives at Texas public universities and resulted in multiple layoffs at UT, occurred during her undergraduate years. Now a graduate student, both of her areas of study are being consolidated.

“I want to keep pursuing education, I want to end this route with a Ph.D., producing research in this field,” she said. “Do I want to get a Ph.D. in this climate, knowing that every time I try to go out and pursue my degrees, [they get] attacked?”

Puente-Bonilla, who completed her undergraduate degree at UT-San Antonio, said coming to UT-Austin as a dual master’s student was a major achievement for her. However, following the consolidation announcements, she said her feelings toward the university have changed.

“Now that I’ve been here, and this is all going down, do you know how embarrassing it is to say, ‘I go to UT?’”  Puente-Bonilla asked. “It’s not what it used to be anymore.”

A UT senior majoring in Government and Women’s and Gender Studies said that although they will return to UT in the fall for a master’s program in Women’s and Gender Studies, they worry about the future of the department under the new funding structure. After deeming UT a front-runner to further their academic career, they are now having second thoughts. The student asked to remain anonymous due to concerns of admission being revoked or losing personal funding opportunities.

“Had I known the consolidation plan beforehand, I likely would have [still] applied, but I would have listed UT-Austin somewhere down on my list, because there’s no guarantee now of real academic autonomy in our studies,” the student said. “Had I known, I would have thought about more out-of-state options.”

Julie Minich, a professor in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at UT who spoke to the Chronicle as a private citizen and not on behalf of the university, said faculty still have many unanswered questions about how the changes will be implemented.

“The reason a lot of us came to UT was because of its support for faculty research, and support for faculty research in these units is uncertain,” Minich said. “Basic [questions] like how faculty will have access to resources for our research going forward are unanswered.”

She said faculty still do not know how department chairs will distribute research resources, what teaching loads will look like, which classes will be prioritized or diminished, and whether certain majors or programs could eventually be eliminated under the new structure.

“The state of uncertainty that students and faculty are in, who are affected by these consolidations … is really detrimental to student education,” Minich said.

Mario Perez, a UT junior majoring in American Studies, said that his courses’ curriculum helped him learn about significant historical events that are not typically taught in the Texas public education system.

“It went over the kind of American history that we don’t really talk about much in [the] Texas curriculum,” Perez said. “It was very important to learn more about these patterns, especially how they affect our marginalized communities and how they persist into the current day.”

Although the university stated that the changes were made to increase efficiency, Perez believes that the American Studies Department is adequately performing, leaving him wondering why the consolidations were brought forward. Still, he encourages students to remain hopeful and continue spreading awareness.

“I believe it’s going to be important to let more and more people know about the importance of the classes I’ve taken and the majors that we are losing here,” Perez said. “People need to know we are losing, and I believe that silence is the ultimate defeat, and I will refuse to be silent, as will many of my fellow students.”

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