DEI ban hits UT's scholarships

Driving the news: Monday is the first day of classes at UT.

Zoom in: The scholarships include the JoyLynn Hailey Reed Endowment for Intellectual Entrepreneurship, the Johnson-Bates Respect and Inclusion Endowed Presidential Scholarship and the Black Queer Studies Collection Enhancement Fund.

• The JoyLynn Hailey Reed endowment was housed within the university's now-closed Division of Campus and Community Engagement.
• The Johnson-Bates scholarship was awarded annually to students who took a leadership role within the LGBTQ+ communities.

Context: Senate Bill 17, which took effect in January, bars public universities from maintaining offices or programs dedicated to supporting historically underrepresented groups like people of color or members of the LGBTQ+ community.

• Critics of the programs say they are discriminatory and emphasize assisting only certain groups.
• Texas was the second state in the country, after Florida, to implement such a law.

The big picture: Texas' DEI crackdown led to about 60 layoffs at UT-Austin.

• In May, the chancellor of the University of Texas system said 311 jobs were eliminated and 21 offices were closed statewide as a consequence of the state law.

What they're saying: Michelle Diggs and Michael Davis, UT alums, had established a scholarship at a multicultural center on campus to support students committed to social impact. It's one of the scholarships that has been frozen or modified.

• The pair founded the center over 30 years ago as undergraduates "as a safe haven and resource for Black and brown students at UT," Diggs, a director of environmental justice initiatives at 3M, told Axios.
• Coming from Huntsville, Texas, she said the center "helped me find my place within a student population that was much larger than my hometown."

"In January, I was devastated to learn that the center was dismantled as a consequence of SB 17. Our mark on the university has been erased as a positive piece of UT's culture," Diggs said.

• "Once the MEC was shuttered and the staff laid off, our scholarship dedicated to the center and its mission was without a home. Michael and I are in the process of dissolving the MEC Excellence Fund. The university is awaiting instruction from us regarding the use of previous contributions. I find that decision hard; what can replace such a unique and beneficial center?"

Meanwhile: Emily Su, a UT international business and government major who grew up in Dallas and graduated from UT in May, won a Gu Shizhen scholarship, specifically meant for people to study in East Asia, in spring 2023.

• "I wanted to go to Hong Kong as part of rediscovering my culture," Su, the daughter of Indonesian immigrants who are ethnically Chinese, tells Axios.
• As part of the scholarship, she studied at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The $4,000 included in the scholarship made it "super nice to worry less about the financials, focus more on the experiences out there," she said.

"I don't understand why this scholarship would be frozen in light of the DEI bill," Su tells Axios. "It's ridiculous in the first place. But having regional-specific scholarships — I don't understand what that has to do with DEI organizations within the school."

The other side: UT officials declined Axios interview requests about why and how certain scholarships were frozen or modified — as well as the current status of scholarships on the frozen or modified list.

• Axios also left an interview request with state Sen. Bryan Hughes, the East Texas Republican who authored SB 17.

Zoom out: Statewide, at least 131 scholarships were modified or put on hold to comply with the new law, per the Dallas Morning News.