A former student has claimed the school is operating "a shadow D.E.I. program in violation of state law.”
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Texas is set to investigate what was reported to be a "shadow DEI program" at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) in Nacogdoches, Texas, after a complaint was made to Texas about a possible violation of the state's ban on DEI practices at universities, where after Charlie Kirk’s death, an office in the school allegedly banned some political speech, but not left-wing expression.
After Texas announced a ban on discriminatory DEI practices at colleges, the state launched the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Office of the Ombudsman last year in order to be a watchdog on DEI practices and has been receiving complaints from students.
The office may have gotten its first target for investigation, according to a report from the Daily Wire. The probe stems from a complaint that was filed by a former student of SFA who claimed the school is operating "a shadow D.E.I. program in violation of state law.”
The student alleged that school employees “discriminate against conservatives … and those that they perceive do not support D.E.I. or leftist political beliefs.”
The complaint, which is heavily redacted, also said that the former student claimed that the campus peer tutoring office sought “to restrict political speech following Charlie Kirk’s assassination.” After Kirk was assassinated, the tutoring office reportedly told students in the office that the office was a "political free zone,” per the complaint.
The former student responded to the message in a group chat saying, “I appreciate … that we’re not going to be political, but that’s not what’s happening in reality,” the complaint stated. He then added that there were tutors who had “clothing with obvious political slogans such as ‘No person can be illegal on stolen land’ and ‘From the River to the Sea.'"
When the student brought this up, he was subsequently fired from the tutoring office. The former student's attorney believes that the school retaliated against the student.
“His point was that’s fine if you want to be viewpoint neutral, that’s fine, but you actually have to be viewpoint neutral. And in response, they deleted his comment immediately from the group and basically sent him a message separately, saying, ‘Well, we’ll handle it.’ And that was it. And then a week and a half later, he basically gets fired,” Franklin added.
In another instance, the former student said that he was punished when he was asking for the legal name of a transgender student who would not provide their legal name.
After the former student was fired, he and Franklin met with university officials to voice their concerns. “I left the meeting hopeful that SFA took my reports seriously and would take proper, and immediate action to address these serious issues. Unfortunately, that was not the case,” the student said in the complaint.
After over a week, the school gave an "update" and said they “would be ‘firming up dress code expectations.'” The counsel to the college also claimed that the university employees did not know what "from the river to the sea" meant.
“This fell far short of the full and transparent investigation that I requested and certainly did not hold anyone accountable,” the student said in the complaint.
Franklin has hopes that Texas' ombudsman’s office can press for more accountability at the school.
In response to the complaint, the university claimed that it “complies with all state and federal laws" and that if there is a state investigation, it will "fully cooperate."
After Texas announced a ban on discriminatory DEI practices at colleges, the state launched the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Office of the Ombudsman last year in order to be a watchdog on DEI practices and has been receiving complaints from students.
The office may have gotten its first target for investigation, according to a report from the Daily Wire. The probe stems from a complaint that was filed by a former student of SFA who claimed the school is operating "a shadow D.E.I. program in violation of state law.”
The student alleged that school employees “discriminate against conservatives … and those that they perceive do not support D.E.I. or leftist political beliefs.”
The complaint, which is heavily redacted, also said that the former student claimed that the campus peer tutoring office sought “to restrict political speech following Charlie Kirk’s assassination.” After Kirk was assassinated, the tutoring office reportedly told students in the office that the office was a "political free zone,” per the complaint.
The former student responded to the message in a group chat saying, “I appreciate … that we’re not going to be political, but that’s not what’s happening in reality,” the complaint stated. He then added that there were tutors who had “clothing with obvious political slogans such as ‘No person can be illegal on stolen land’ and ‘From the River to the Sea.'"
When the student brought this up, he was subsequently fired from the tutoring office. The former student's attorney believes that the school retaliated against the student.
“His point was that’s fine if you want to be viewpoint neutral, that’s fine, but you actually have to be viewpoint neutral. And in response, they deleted his comment immediately from the group and basically sent him a message separately, saying, ‘Well, we’ll handle it.’ And that was it. And then a week and a half later, he basically gets fired,” Franklin added.
In another instance, the former student said that he was punished when he was asking for the legal name of a transgender student who would not provide their legal name.
After the former student was fired, he and Franklin met with university officials to voice their concerns. “I left the meeting hopeful that SFA took my reports seriously and would take proper, and immediate action to address these serious issues. Unfortunately, that was not the case,” the student said in the complaint.
After over a week, the school gave an "update" and said they “would be ‘firming up dress code expectations.'” The counsel to the college also claimed that the university employees did not know what "from the river to the sea" meant.
“This fell far short of the full and transparent investigation that I requested and certainly did not hold anyone accountable,” the student said in the complaint.
Franklin has hopes that Texas' ombudsman’s office can press for more accountability at the school.
In response to the complaint, the university claimed that it “complies with all state and federal laws" and that if there is a state investigation, it will "fully cooperate."
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