The University of Texas at Austin, the state’s flagship public university, is no longer accepting new students into three majors centered on gender, sexuality and race—a decision conservatives are celebrating as a significant win.
Applicants to UT Austin can no longer choose Women’s and Gender Studies, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, or African and African Diaspora Studies as a major, the university confirmed to Fox News Digital. The decision follows similar moves at other universities and months of internal debate at UT Austin over the future of the programs.
“In recognition of the changing degree offerings in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, the University is no longer enrolling new students in three majors: Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, African and African Diaspora Studies, and Women’s & Gender Studies,” a university spokesman told Fox News Digital.
“So, as you might expect, those majors have been removed from the University’s admissions applications to avoid new students enrolling in majors that are changing. Students currently enrolled in those majors will be able to complete their degree,” the statement continued.
Timur Kuran, a Duke University professor of economics and political science, said the development was not surprising, arguing that ethnic and sexuality studies programs across the English-speaking world have been heavily influenced by political activists.
“I don’t know the particulars of UT Austin’s programs. But this news is unsurprising. Across the Anglosphere, ethnic and sexuality studies have long been captured by political activists,” Kuran wrote on X. “Other state universities, and even private ones, will follow.”
Enrollment has been part of the wider discussion surrounding the programs, though UT Austin has not publicly identified low enrollment as the reason it stopped admitting new students to the three majors.
The Austin American-Statesman reported earlier this year that only 307 students were enrolled across African and African Diaspora Studies, Mexican American and Latino Studies, Women and Gender Studies, and American Studies, citing university data.
That figure amounted to less than 1% of UT Austin’s 44,315 undergraduate students enrolled in fall 2025.
UT Austin, among the largest universities in the United States, has also come under increasing scrutiny from Republican officials at the state and federal levels over its approach to race, gender and other politically sensitive academic subjects.
The University of Texas System has reviewed courses dealing with gender identity to determine whether they comply with state and federal law and reflect the priorities of the Board of Regents.
An internal email obtained by the Austin American-Statesman suggests that although the three majors may be discontinued, much of their coursework could continue under a revised academic structure.
The apparent plan is to combine the discontinued majors into a single program.
Before the consolidation announcement, Lisa Moore, UT Austin’s chair of women and gender studies, defended the academic fields.
“Gender and ethnic studies have transformed the study of the humanities and social sciences, and now they are what they are,” Moore said. “We can’t unknow what we know… It’s just not the case that we can believe that only a small slice of human beings are responsible for everything that’s good about the world.”
Conservative critics have taken a sharply different view of the disciplines. Steve McGuire, a fellow at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, described ending the majors as “the pedagogically responsible thing to do.”
“Excellent news. These programs are not ‘viewpoint diversity.’ They are ridiculous Leftist delusion[s] that have no place in truth-seeking institutions,” J.D. Haltigan, a research fellow at the Centre for Heterodox Social Science, wrote on X. “They should be abolished entirely from every institution of higher-learning.”
Some conservatives view the decision at UT Austin as a model for other universities in Republican-led states.
“Every red state should follow suit with their universities,” independent scholar Varad Mehta wrote on X.
Several universities in red states have already reduced or restructured comparable academic programs. Texas A&M University, Wichita State University, the University of Iowa and the University of Toledo are among the institutions that have made such cuts.
UT Austin did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Friday.
