‘Leftist delusions’ face reckoning as one of America’s biggest colleges makes major shake-up

Texas’ flagship public university is ending new enrollment in three majors focused on gender, sexuality and race in a move that is being hailed by many conservatives as a major victory.

Students applying to the University of Texas at Austin can no longer select Women’s and Gender Studies, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies or African and African Diaspora Studies as majors, the institution has confirmed. The move follows a slew of other universities dropping similar majors and heated internal deliberations at UT Austin about whether to keep theirs.

“In recognition of the changing degree offerings in the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, the University is no longer enrolling new students in three majors: Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, African and African Diaspora Studies, and Women’s & Gender Studies,” a university spokesman told Inside Higher Ed.

“So, as you might expect, those majors have been removed from the University’s admissions applications to avoid new students enrolling in majors that are changing. Students currently enrolled in those majors will be able to complete their degree,” the statement continued. 

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“I don’t know the particulars of UT Austin’s programs. But this news is unsurprising. Across the Anglosphere, ethnic and sexuality studies have long been captured by political activists,” Timur Kuran, a professor of economics and political science at Duke University, wrote on X. “Other state universities, and even private ones, will follow.”

Low enrollment has been part of the broader debate over the programs, although UT Austin has not publicly said it was the reason for ending new enrollment in the three majors.

Earlier this year, the Austin American-Statesman reported that the university had just 307 students enrolled across the entirety of African and African diaspora studies, Mexican American and Latino studies, women and gender studies and American studies, citing institutional data. That represents less than 1% of the 44,315 undergraduates who were enrolled at the university in Fall 2025.

UT Austin, which is one of the largest universities in the nation, has also faced growing pressure from Republican state and federal officials over how it handles race, gender and other politically sensitive subjects. The University of Texas System has reviewed courses on gender identity to assess compliance with state and federal law and alignment with Board of Regents priorities.

An internal email obtained by the Austin American-Statesman indicates that, while the majors may be on the way out, much of the coursework could remain. The plan appears to be to consolidate the defunct majors into a single offering.

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“Gender and ethnic studies have transformed the study of the humanities and social sciences, and now they are what they are,” Lisa Moore, the university’s chair of women and gender studies, said prior to the consolidation announcement. “We can’t unknow what we know… It’s just not the case that we can believe that only a small slice of human beings are responsible for everything that’s good about the world.”

Conservatives, unsurprisingly, have a less rosy view of the field.

Steve McGuire, a fellow at the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, called axing the majors “the pedagogically responsible thing to do.”

“Excellent news. These programs are not ‘viewpoint diversity.’ They are ridiculous Leftist delusion[s] that have no place in truth-seeking institutions,” J.D. Haltigan, a research fellow at the Centre for Heterodox Social Science, wrote on X. “They should be abolished entirely from every institution of higher-learning.”

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Some on the right see this as a sign of things to come.

“Every red state should follow suit with their universities,” independent scholar Varad Mehta wrote on X.

Indeed, a number of universities in red states have already scaled back similar programs. Texas A&M University, Wichita State University, the University of Iowa and the University of Toledo are among the institutions to make such cuts.

UT Austin did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Friday.