Texas A&M could cut race, gender and climate courses from its core classes

The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents will consider cutting dozens of courses from the core curriculum across 11 universities on Thursday, in response to a state law requiring all general education classes to be “foundational.”

Among the proposed deletions are various courses about women and gender; climate and the environment; as well as Black and Latino history, literature and culture.

Texas colleges have historically decided what courses count toward the core curriculum for all their undergraduates, but state lawmakers have asserted more oversight of that process. Senate Bill 37, passed in 2025, required public colleges and universities to review almost 13,000 general education courses, emphasizing that they should prepare students for life and work. Some institutions, like the University of Houston, have already pared down what general courses count toward a college diploma. 

A&M’s suggested cuts would reduce the core by 30%, from 260 courses to 182, interim provost Jerry Strawser said in a Wednesday email to faculty and staff. A committee of 20 faculty members, administrators, community leaders and industry representatives helped make the recommendations. 

“The courses recommended for removal may be relevant within specific areas of study; however, they did not meet the committee’s threshold for remaining part of the core curriculum,” Strawser wrote. 

Texas requires all undergraduates to take 42 credit hours across specific subjects and learning objectives, which are set by the state. 

SB37 doesn’t explicitly ban any topics from the core. However, courses about diverse populations have been a frequent casualty of the reviews. Some conservative lawmakers and administrators have framed those courses as too niche for a core that is supposed to indicate what every student should know.

The law largely left it up to universities to define what meets the new state standards of “foundational” and “fundamental.” Some administrators have also framed the cuts as an effort to reduce the size of a bloated course catalog. Last month, the University of Houston cut about 40% of its courses from the core, from 241 courses to 144. 

The A&M flagship will delete more courses than the other A&M system institutions, possibly because it had a larger core to begin with, according to a list included in the board’s meeting agenda. The flagship also enrolls more students: Out of the system’s 133,000 undergraduates in fall 2024 — the most recent year for which data was available — Texas A&M enrolled more than 57,000 of them.

Separate from A&M’s review of core curriculum under SB37, the system has also reviewed courses to make sure they comply with an A&M system policy banning the teaching of race and gender “ideology.” There are some exemptions for classes outside the core or at the graduate level. It’s unclear how many courses moved out of the core due to the race and gender review, but the SB37 review will cull the core even further.

At the flagship, the latest potential cuts include core courses cross-listed in women’s and gender studies — a program that is already being phased out. Those include “Gender and Health,” “Feminist Science, Tech, and Medicine,” and “LGBTQ Literatures.”

Others involve global cultures or demographics: “Intro to Latinx Literary Studies,” “Dance in World Cultures,” a sociology course called “Intro to Race and Ethnicity” and an African American studies course called “Popular Musics in the African Diaspora.”

Some involve the environment or social justice, like an atmospheric science course called “Climate Change,” a performing arts course called “Aesthetics of Activism,” and a human health course called “Intro to Health Disparities and Diversity.” 

A&M will also consider removing some courses that count toward the state’s core history requirement, including “Southwest Borderlands,” “Blacks in the U.S., 1607-1877” and “Blacks in the U.S. since 1877.” A course about Native American history would remain an option for students. 

The university didn’t appear to take a blanket approach, as not all courses touching on topics of race or ethnicity were slated for removal. Some also involved topics unrelated to “culture wars,” like “Finite Mathematics,” and “Geography of Texas.”

All students are required to take one course to satisfy a language, philosophy and culture requirement, and the English department took a particular hit in the proposal. If approved, it would lose “21st Century Literature and Culture,” “Arthurian Literature,” “Sci-fi Present and Past,” and “Bible as Literature,” among others currently in the core. 

Other A&M system institutions recorded similar recommended cuts, to varying degrees. 

Prairie View A&M University, a historically Black university that opened 150 years ago on a former slave plantation, could slash some courses from its core, like “Sociology of Minorities,” “Blacks and the American Political System,” “Social Problems,” and “Mexican-American Culture.” Several race-related courses would remain, however.

Texas A&M University-Victoria’s proposed cuts included “Women in the U.S.,” “Mexican-American History,” “Immigration in the U.S.” and “African American History.”

Tarleton State University could also cut geology classes like “Intro to Environmental Science,” and “Natural Disasters” from its science requirement.

If approved, the revised cores will be effective for new A&M students starting in fall 2027. Students can still take the courses as electives, a designation that could potentially lead to fewer people taking the classes.

This story will be updated.