Public colleges face limits on required race and gender courses

The text as introduced · 1,144 words

By: Harris
H.B. No. 2548

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a prohibition on public institutions of higher

education requiring students to enroll in certain courses to

complete a certificate or degree program, using such courses to

satisfy general education requirements, funding such courses using

state appropriations, or requiring related faculty practices, and

to freshman student orientation at those institutions.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Subchapter F, Chapter 51, Education Code, is

amended by adding Section 51.311 to read as follows:

Sec. 51.311. PROHIBITION ON REQUIRING CERTAIN COURSES. (a)

In this section:

(1) "governing board" and "institution of higher

education" have the meanings assigned by Section 61.003.

(2) "general education curriculum" means "core

curriculum" as assigned by Section 61.821(1) and any content-based

academic course requirement or guideline applicable to all students

of a college within a university.

(3) "constrain" means:

(A) establishing required curricular course

classifications based upon, or

(B) failing during any semester to provide

sufficient open seats in alternative courses for a student to

complete or progress toward completion of a degree or program

requirements.

(b) Except as provided by Subsections (d) and (e), the

governing board of an institution of higher education shall

prescribe courses and programs at the institution in a manner that

does not require or constrain students enrolled at the institution

to complete, as part of any program or degree requirement, a course

whose course description, course overview, course objectives,

proposed student learning outcomes, written examinations, or

written or oral assignments for which the student will receive a

grade do any of the following:

(1) relate to contemporary American society the topic

of critical theory, whiteness, systemic racism, institutional

racism, anti-racism, microaggressions, systemic or structural

bias, implicit bias, unconscious bias, intersectionality, gender

identity, social justice, cultural competence, decolonization,

allyship, race-based reparations, race- or gender-based privilege,

race- or gender-based diversity, race- or gender-based equity,

race- or gender-based inclusion, race- or gender-based

stratification, race- or gender-based power, or race- or

gender-based marginalization;

(2) promote the idea that racially neutral or

colorblind laws, policies, or institutions perpetuate oppression,

injustice, race-based privilege, including white supremacy or

white privilege, or inequity by failing to actively differentiate

on the basis of race, sex, or gender;

(3) promote the differential treatment of any

individual or group of individuals based on race or ethnicity in

contemporary American society;

(4) promote the idea that a student is biased on

account of the student's race or sex.

(c) Except as provided by Subsections (d) and (e), an

institution of higher education or the institution's employee may

not require, solicit, or incentivize the institution's faculty

members to, as a condition of approving a course, certificate, or

degree program or as a factor in the faculty member's performance

assessment or a decision regarding the faculty member's promotion,

tenure, salary, or any other incentive:

(1) include in a course content described by

Subsection (b);

(2) include or curate instructional materials on the

basis of the race, sex, or gender identity of the author or authors;

(3) participate in a workshop, training, seminar or

professional development on content described by Subsection (b).

(d) The governing board of an institution of higher

education may exempt in writing from the prohibitions under

Subsections (b) and (c) courses required for a certificate or

degree program whose title clearly establishes the program's course

of study as primarily focused on racial, ethnic, or gender studies,

provided that each of the following applies:

(1) a student enrolled at the institution is not

required or constrained to enroll in such a course to satisfy the

requirements of any other certificate or degree program.

(2) courses offered or listed under such programs

shall satisfy the academic degree program requirements of those

respective programs only and shall not be used to satisfy the degree

or program requirements for general education or other major,

minor, or certificate requirements beyond satisfying overall

university credit hour graduation requirements.

(3) the title of any currently established department

or degree or certificate program is not altered or replaced to

establish an emphasis on racial, ethnic, or gender studies.

(e) Subsections (b) and (c) shall not be construed to

prohibit:

(1) identifying and discussing historical movements,

ideologies or instances of racial hatred or discrimination,

including, but not limited to slavery, Indian removal, the

Holocaust, or Japanese-American internment.

(2) identifying genetic predispositions,

epidemiology, or physiology in medical education or biological

sciences that does not posit race-based injustice, discrimination,

or oppression.

(3) the identification of differences between, or bona

fide qualifications based on, biological sex that are reasonably

necessary to the normal operation of public institutions.

(f) The governing board of an institution of higher

education shall prescribe general education curricula in a manner

that does not include courses that distort significant historical

events or include curriculum that teaches identity politics or is

based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and

privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and

were created to maintain social, political, and economic

inequities.

(g) Nothing in this section may be construed to limit any

programming explicitly required by, and limited to, the institution

of higher education's obligations to comply with state or federal

anti-discrimination law or an applicable court order.

(h) A public institution of higher education may not require

a student to complete an additional course to meet a course

requirement that was completed by the student with a course that has

since been removed as meeting a general education or program

requirement.

(i) Beginning with the fiscal year beginning September 1,

2026, each public institution of higher education shall include as

part of its annual report to the Texas Higher Education

Coordinating Board as provided by Section 51.3525, Subsection (e)

certification of its compliance with this section. Violations of

this section shall be subject to the procedures provided by Section

51.3525, Subsections (g) through (i).

SECTION 2. Subchapter F, Chapter 51, Education Code, is

amended by adding Section 51.312 to read as follows:

Sec. 51.312. REQUIRED SOURCES OF FUNDING FOR CERTAIN

COURSES. (a) Instructional expenses associated with courses

specified in Section 51.311(b) shall not be funded by state

appropriations.

SECTION 3. SEVERABILITY. If any provision of this Act or

its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the

invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of this

Act that can be given effect without the invalid provision or

application, and to this end the provisions of this Act are declared

to be severable.

SECTION 4. This Act applies beginning with the 2025-2026

academic year.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives

a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as

provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this

Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this

Act takes effect September 1, 2025.