April 15, 2026
AAUP at UT Statement on Closure of 7 Departments in the College of Liberal Arts
The AAUP Chapter at UT Austin expresses serious concern about the impending closure of seven departments in the College of Liberal Arts (COLA).
On February 12th, UT Austin President Jim Davis announced that he was terminating seven COLA departments to create two new departments. According to his email to the campus community, the Departments of French and Italian, Germanic Studies, and Slavic and Eurasian Studies would be closed and faculty “consolidated” to form a new Department of European and Eurasian Studies. In addition, the Departments of African and African Diaspora Studies, American Studies, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies would be eliminated and faculty merged to form the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis.
Prior to the 2025-2026 academic year, administrative and curricular changes of this magnitude would have had to go through an extensive evaluation by an elected body of faculty members. In the wake of SB37, however, no substantive involvement or oversight by faculty was required. Furthermore, the president made this announcement despite significant, documented opposition to these changes on the part of faculty and students. He has refused to meet with faculty in the impacted departments despite repeated requests from their chairs, and he has failed to provide clear evidence justifying the closure of these units, referring in his February 12th email only to vague “student-to-faculty ratio[s]” and “inconsistencies and fragmentation” across the college.
Since the President’s February announcement, subsequent communications about these changes have inspired even greater concern. Despite earlier informing chairs in the units slated for closure that the process of “consolidation” would not be in effect until Fall 2027, in an April 2nd email issued to faculty and some students in these units, Interim COLA Dean David Sosa stated that the formulation of these two departments would be “finalized” by Fall 2026. On April 8th, Dean Sosa told chairs in these seven departments that their leadership roles would conclude on August 15th, in most cases terminating their contracts several years early. Of these seven chairs, six are women.
These changes follow similarly dramatic transformations across the university that have been decided through a top-down, anti-democratic process, inadequately communicated to the campus community, and carried out in a hasty and chaotic manner. These transformations include but are not limited to the displacement of the nationally-ranked School of Information (iSchool) into the College of Natural Sciences; the closure of the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Vick Advising Excellence Center, the Office for Undergraduate Research, and the Office of Community Engagement. Again in these closures, the majority of those who had their positions terminated are women.
While the President has publicly and privately averred his commitment to the principles of academic freedom, the closure of these academic departments suggests an intent to narrow what students can study and faculty can teach at UT. The closure of four academic units that center teaching and scholarship about people of color, women, as well as gender and sexual minorities will constrict critical thought in these vital areas.
Furthermore, the only justification that leaders have provided to faculty in these departments for their hastened closure has been the impending 2027 Texas legislative session; the external political attacks on teaching about race, gender and sexuality; and the attempts to repress teaching in these areas at other public university systems in Texas. Together, these factors suggest a new, dangerous degree of political interference in academic matters at UT Austin, and a willingness on the part of our President, Provost, and COLA Dean to facilitate it.
The principle of academic freedom matters most when subjects come under political attack and when powerful forces attempt to censor challenging ideas. President Davis and Provost Inboden, we call on you to defend areas of teaching and research about race, gender, and sexuality that are most vulnerable at this moment, reverse the planned departmental consolidations, and engage with faculty and students who are eager to help you.