Bill Would Ban Teaching DEI Topics in Many College Classrooms
Proposal targets lessons on systemic racism
By Lucciana Choueiry, Fri., May 9, 2025
Stella Flores has built her academic career on studying educational equity. She teaches students about systemic inequality, public policy, and how education systems can serve or fail diverse communities. But under a proposed Texas bill, much of her expertise could soon be off-limits in the classroom.
House Bill 2548, introduced by Republican Rep. Cody Harris, would ban public universities in Texas from requiring or funding any course content that touches on topics like systemic racism, whiteness, intersectionality, gender identity, or anti-racism, unless those courses are part of narrowly defined race or gender studies programs. Even then, the bill restricts those classes from counting toward core curriculum or degree requirements outside their own department.
Faculty could not be evaluated, promoted, or incentivized based on whether they engage with such topics, and the bill also bars universities from hosting professional development on these themes. In effect, it would remove diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) considerations from nearly all aspects of university instruction and governance.
“This is a clear violation of academic freedom,” said Flores, a professor of higher education and public policy at the University of Texas at Austin. “Getting into the classroom curriculum and prohibiting instructors from teaching their expertise; how does that make any economic or educational sense?”
The bill builds on last session’s Senate Bill 17, which went into effect last January and banned DEI offices and programming at Texas public colleges and universities. Under SB 17, institutions were forced to dismantle diversity-focused offices, reassign staff, and cut programs that provided support for historically marginalized student populations. HB 2548 takes the restrictions further by targeting individual courses, expanding the state’s oversight from institutional infrastructure into classroom content.
The bill’s language covers not only full courses but also single assignments, exams, or written reflections. It bans the promotion of the idea that race-neutral laws can perpetuate systemic oppression. Institutions would be required to certify their compliance annually to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
“I certainly couldn’t teach half the courses I was hired to teach,” Flores said. “I teach Equity and Diversity in Higher Education. I’ve taught courses on inequality. There are many courses across departments that even briefly introduce these concepts because students are supposed to learn a range of theories.”
For Flores, the potential fallout isn’t just academic. “If you’re trying to end the careers of half the disciplines in this nation, or prevent the practice of those disciplines in the sciences, this might be a way to do it,” she said. “But it will certainly lead to a collapse of innovation: economic, social, and human innovation.”
She also warned of a growing climate of self-censorship among faculty, even before any bill becomes law. “We’ve seen and heard of professors already altering curriculum,” she said. “You can create a climate of fear with way less than this. And with this bill in effect, you’re going to lose professors, students, administrators. People won’t want to be part of institutions governed by these principles.”
HB 2548 comes at a time when higher education across the country is facing political and financial scrutiny. Flores noted that public universities risk falling out of alignment with federal accreditation standards and financial aid guidelines that require demonstrated commitments to diversity and inclusion. Meanwhile, European countries and the European Union have taken notice and are offering refuge to academics fleeing the United States.
In Texas, the bill’s broad scope could go beyond harm to social scientists, jeopardizing even STEM and public health programs, she said, which often include discussions of race, gender, or systemic inequality in relation to health outcomes, workforce development, and data equity.
“Why would we erase the very things that help us improve our nation’s laws, policies, and public programs?” Flores asked. “If we don’t learn from what went wrong in history, what killed thousands of people, or what helped millions of children learn to read, we’re wasting time, money, and progress.”
Flores does not think that the government needs to protect students from political indoctrination, something this bill claims to do.
“I think students and families are competent enough to protect themselves. They know how to think critically. That’s the whole point of higher education.”
An identical bill, Senate Bill 2714, has also been filed in the Senate, authored by Sen. Mayes Middleton. HB 2548 is currently in the Committee on Higher Education, while SB 2714 was referred to the Education K-16 committee.
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