The University of Texas at Austin recently promoted a staff member with an extensive history of left-wing scholarship to a newly created “cabinet level” position.
University President Jim Davis announced that Miguel Wasielewski would serve as the first “Vice President for Student Experience” on June 1. This new position will oversee several functions related to student affairs and “enrollment management.”
Davis appears to have promoted Wasielewski without a search firm, committee, or competitive search.
On June 10, Texas Scorecard submitted an open records request for “[D]ocuments relating to a search firm or committee related to the hire for a Vice President for Texas Student Experience.”
On June 24, UT-Austin replied that there were no records responsive to this request.
Wasielewski’s PhD. dissertation, “A Study of the Non-Academic Factors Influencing Four-Year Degree Completion among African Americans and Latinos at a Public Research University,” contains a series of racially inflammatory assertions. Examples include:
- “Classroom discrimination complicates interaction with faculty and peers for ethnically diverse students.” (p. 36)
- “[P]olicies that favor awarding merit-based aid instead of need-based aid can impact the economic and racial diversity of a student body. For instance, schools that choose to allocate discretionary funding to National Merit scholars (high academic achievers) rather than the financially needy Pell grant population will experience a reduction in socioeconomic diversity.” (p. 39)
- “It is imperative for students to be prepared to navigate a diverse campus, especially when the campus has some degree of racial/ethnic hostility.” (p. 42)
In 2014, Wasielewski co-authored an article, “A Hole in the Soul of Austin: Black Faculty Community Engagement Experiences in a Creative Class City,” that bemoans a “dearth of Black-centered activities” in Austin.
Wasielewski has also served on a steering committee to guide the university’s efforts as a “Hispanic Serving Institution.”
Wasielewski’s appointment comes as student affairs positions have come under scrutiny for attempts to repackage left-wing content using new phraseology.
A recent Texas Scorecard investigation into the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) conference highlighted a series of less politically charged terms that expressed similar goals to DEI.
UT-Austin is a component of the University of Texas System. The UT System is overseen by a Board of Regents that is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Texas Senate. Kevin Eltife of Tyler is the current board chairman.
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