Latest Texas DEI investigation covered by The Gazette
February 21, 2024
Texas universities implement DEI under the table after statewide ban
Officials at Texas public universities are quietly trying to implement diversity, equity, and inclusion programs after a statewide ban on the ideology took effect Jan. 1, according to hidden camera footage published this week.
Undercover video captured by investigators from Accuracy in Media shows employees from multiple Texas universities admitting to finding “creative” ways to maintain DEI initiatives while still technically complying with the ban.
“We’re not allowed to say ‘DEI’ anymore,” an employee identified as Rachel Ball, assistant director for academic advising at Texas A&M at Galveston, said in one recording. “The new law that just started, so I think they’re calling it — I forget what the stupid title is now, but yeah, it pretty much is, yeah. So, it’s to represent all of the DEI work that we do on this campus. They just rebranded, so we’re still doing the same work. We just can’t call it that.”
The videos appear to confirm Washington Examiner reporting, days after the ban went into effect, that Texas schools are simply rebranding their DEI offices while keeping the ideology alive.
Accuracy in Media, which according to its website uses “citizen activism and investigative journalism to expose media bias, corruption, and public policy failings,” went to 24 campuses across Texas to obtain inside perspectives on how schools were responding to the ban.