The Texas House approved Senate Bill 1, which appropriates state funds for the next two years, on April 11. The bill would cut spending allocated towards UT’s salary and wages, which does not include faculty, by about $65 million. 

The bill passed by the House has some variations from the bill passed by the Senate on April 1, meaning the bill needs to be renegotiated between both chambers before going to the governor. SB 1 contains the spending plan for UT and all schools in the UT and A&M systems, including how much of the funds should be spent on faculty salaries, research costs and staff wages. The bill allocates nearly $900 million to UT over the next two years. 

The bill cuts reduce the amount allocated towards staff salaries and wages by about 36%, marking the lowest amount allocated to salaries and wages this decade.  However, the plans throughout the bill only apply to what the state of Texas funds, which is about 10% of the University’s budget, and not to other sources of University funding. The bill also does not direct the University to cut any programs or departments. 

The cuts come as UT has experienced an increase in the number of staff. Since 2019, the number of staff has increased by approximately 18%, according to the University’s website. 

One of those new staff members is Lennex Cowan, a doctoral candidate in African and African Diaspora studies who joined UT’s staff four years ago. Cowan said these funds help his research because they pay for conferences and fellowships. 

“In the last 15 years, I’ve been working in this or studying in this field, and then as an educator, I’ve always used Black studies to help me understand the overarching position of myself and the students that I teach,” Cowan said. “Without Black studies, I don’t know how much I would be able to attend to my students in humanity had I not had a particular foundational or theoretical background.”  

The cuts to the state’s funding coverage come as the University has faced increased scrutiny from the Legislature over its curriculum offerings. Lawmakers in the House debated cutting all funding to UT for offering courses on gender and race studies, according to an amendment from state Rep. Andy Hopper. 

“Despite repeated calls by our president, our governor and our Legislature, the University of Texas continues to put out an outsized focus offering degree programs and courses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (and) queer studies and has continued a pattern of teaching discrimination hidden behind the words diversity, equity and inclusion,” Hopper said. “There are also programs that deny the unchangeable biological reality that there are only two sexes, male and female. These programs and, by extension, this University should not be funded by tax dollars.” 

Cowan said he did not know whether the Legislature’s cuts would affect his work and feared for future students entering the field.

“I’m just hoping that we’re not impacted,” Cowan said. “But who’s to say? If they got rid of DEI programs last year, who’s to say they might (not) come after academic programs in the same way?”