Faculty at Texas university fear entire liberal arts departments will be slashed

University of Texas at Austin faculty fear changes from new taskforce that could restructure humanities programs

Faculty at the University of Texas at Austin fear entire academic departments might be on the chopping block after the university quietly appointed a committee charged with studying the restructuring of its liberal arts programs.

The university - the largest in the public University of Texas system - has not made any announcements about cuts or restructuring, but faculty there have learned the committee was established earlier this semester and tasked with a review that they believe is focused on ethnic and regional disciplines such as African and African diaspora studies, Mexican American and Latina/o studies, as well as women's and gender studies.