The Texas Tech University System Board of Regents voted Wednesday to strip 21 courses from Texas Tech’s core curriculum, ensuring future Red Raiders can graduate without accidentally learning about the Holocaust, social justice, or how to get along with coworkers. Beginning in fall 2027, those classes will no longer satisfy general education requirements, though the 42-credit-hour requirement remains untouched.
According to Lubbock Lights and the Texas Tribune, casualties include The Holocaust in Literature and Film, Literature, Social Justice, and the Environment, and Intersectionalities: Race, Class, and Gender in a Global World. Regents also booted Belonging and Intercultural Communication in the Workplace, apparently deciding that basic workplace competence is an optional luxury.
Regent Shelley Sweatt reassured everyone that “Removing a course from the core is not the same as removing it from the catalog,” noting many will survive as electives or major requirements. The purge follows Senate Bill 37, a 2025 law authored by current Texas Tech Chancellor Brandon Creighton back when he was a state senator, which requires boards to review core classes every five years.
KAMC-KLBK reports that faculty committees started the review in May, though the Texas Tribune notes Creighton’s office conducted a course-by-course inspection before the board signed off. Faculty member Andrew Martin questioned the criteria behind the cuts, saying, “What we’re talking about is limiting the ability of our students to have a complete education.”
Angelo State and Midwestern State lost 15 and 13 core classes respectively, proving no corner of the system is safe from a syllabus audit. It tracks with Creighton’s September promise at a Lubbock Chamber of Commerce luncheon: “We’re going to lead. Some of it will be uncomfortable.”
The timing is especially brisk given that Texas voters just handed Democrats sweeping wins for governor, lieutenant governor, and the Texas House, opening the door to revisit state DEI bans when lawmakers convene in January. With two regents’ terms expiring Jan. 31 and a third seat already vacant, Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa will soon have three appointments to make to the nine-member board.
Nothing says preparing students for civic life quite like speed-running a curriculum purge before the new governor gets the keys to the boardroom.
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