Women’s Studies at the University of Texas Takes a Big Hit From the Budget Axe

This year, conservatives in the Texas legislatures proposed to eliminate all funds for women’s and ethnic studies programs at state universities. The lobbying group Young Conservatives of Texas which supported the cuts, stated that “these programs and centers distract from the university’s core mission of teaching and expend valuable resources to promote an explicitly left-wing political and social agenda.”

The legislature did not totally gut funding but did make substantial cuts to women’s and ethnic studies programs. But at the University of Texas, the administration stepped in and restored funding to the Mexican-American and African-American studies programs. But there was no rescue for women’s studies. Susan S. Heinzelman, associate professor and director of The Center for Women’s & Gender Studies told The Texas Independent, “Women’s issues always seem to get preempted by someone else.”

The Center for Women’s & Gender Studies at the University of Texas is facing a 15.9 percent funding cut this year and 5 percent cuts in each of the next two years.  The women’s studies program at the university offers master’s and bachelor’s degree programs and hundreds of students enroll in women’s studies courses each year. There are 350 faculty members at the university who are affiliated with women’s studies.

As a result of the cuts, the women’s studies program will be forced to lay off adjunct professors.