Despite lawmakers working to eliminate so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion agendas in state universities, the University of Texas at Arlington is requiring students to read and write a paper on the DEI-based 1619 Project.
Gen Z activist Carlos Turcios was sent information and images from a UTA student showing that the 1619 Project is part of the required core class materials.
The 1619 Project is The New York Times Magazine’s “initiative to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.”:
In August of 1619, a ship appeared on this horizon, near Point Comfort, a coastal port in the English colony of Virginia. It carried more than 20 enslaved Africans, who were sold to the colonists. No aspect of the country that would be formed here has been untouched by the years of slavery that followed. On the 400th anniversary of this fateful moment, it is finally time to tell our story truthfully.
Turcios told Texas Scorecard History 1301 is a mandatory core class for students.
Students are being required to write a paper using the 1619 Project as their only source. The assignment sent to Turcios requires students to respond to the following prompt: “How have laws, policies, and systems developed to enforce the enslavement of black Americans before the Civil War influenced laws, policies, and systems in years since?”
Despite DEI being removed from Public Universities in Texas, students at the University of Texas at Arlington are required to do 1619 Race Pimp Revisionist history materials for their History 1301 course, which is a core class. pic.twitter.com/uaoWI0oQkQ
— Carlos Turcios (@Carlos__Turcios) September 5, 2023
The course assignment also requires students to “bring in specifics from the reading” to support their answers.
This particular assignment, which Turcios refers to as a paper based on the “1619 Race Pimp Revisionist history materials,” is worth 100 points.
“I’m concerned that taxpayers’ money is being used to promote a radical program that changes US history and pushes the notion that the US was only founded because of slavery,” said Turcios.
He continued, saying, “Any University with an ‘anti-racist’ ideology or DEI must be held accountable.”
During the regular 88th Legislative Session, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 17, which was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in late June.
The law bans Texas’ public universities from establishing a DEI office, using DEI criteria in their hiring practices, or requiring employees or prospective employees to attend DEI training.
The law does not take effect until January 1, 2024, and UTA still has an acting DEI Committee.
However, since the restrictions do not apply to academic instruction, the university has no legal obligation to remove the DEI-based material from its course.
