Texas Tech University System Chancellor Brandon Creighton has released a policy memo to guide a “phase out” of academic programs “centered on” sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI).
According to Creighton’s memo, the “TTU System will no longer offer academic credentials in these fields, but all currently enrolled students will be able to complete their degrees.”
Creighton’s guidance includes the following “core components”:
- System-Wide Program Phase-Out: A formal program review, followed by an admissions freeze, to initiate the closure of all academic credentials centered on SOGI.
- Core Prohibition and Advanced Course Exceptions: A strict prohibition on SOGI content in all core and lower-level undergraduate courses, requiring alternate materials if primary texts center on or include these topics. Conversely, upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses are restricted but feature clear exemptions for strictly defined academic purposes.
- Temporary Teach-Out Exemptions: Carefully delineated, strictly temporary instructional frameworks for certain graduate coursework. Certain SOGI instruction is permitted only for currently enrolled students completing formally identified teach-out programs at the graduate level.
- Prohibition of Prejudiced Advocacy: A ban on instruction that advocates for concepts of inherent racial or sexual superiority, inherent bias, or collective guilt.
- General Exemptions: Clear protections for independent student-directed research and necessary professional licensure or patient-care requirements.
The memo also includes a “Two Human Sexes Requirement” that prohibits “decoupl[ing] gender from biological sex as a factual or scientific baseline.”
The memo further defines “lower-level” coursework as undergraduate courses designated at the 1000 or 2000 level, and “upper-level” courses as undergraduate courses designated at the 3000 level or above.
There is a “strict prohibition” on this content in the former, although “clear exemptions for strictly defined academic purposes” might exist for the latter.
The memo restates a previous prohibition on various forms of “advocacy” of race- and sex-based prejudice.
The memo did not provide a timeline for the phase out. The Texas Tech System did not immediately respond to a request for clarification on this subject.
Creighton’s memo follows an “exhaustive review” of university course content he launched last fall. Creighton stated last week that this review “could be a national model when we’re finished.”
Multiple left-wing organizations have released statements bemoaning the cancellation of the programming.
Texas Tech’s announcement builds upon UT-Austin’s statement earlier this month that they intend to “accelerate” a consolidation of ethnic and gender studies material for the fall 2026 semester. A review of course content related to this consolidation remains ongoing on the forty acres.
Texas A&M announced in January that it would eliminate its women’s and gender studies program.
The Texas Tech University System oversees three academic institutions and two “health sciences centers.” The Texas Tech system is overseen by a Board of Regents that is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Texas Senate. Cody Campbell of Fort Worth is the current board chairman.
