Texas Tech System Eliminates All Gender Identity Programs Across Five Universities

In what may be the most decisive blow against ideological overreach in Texas higher education, the Texas Tech University System has ordered the complete elimination of all academic programs centered on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. This is what accountability looks like.

On April 10, 2026, Texas Tech Chancellor Brandon Creighton — a former Republican state senator who understands the values of Texas families — issued a sweeping memorandum to all five system universities: Texas Tech University, Angelo State University, Midwestern State University, and both Health Sciences Centers. The directive is unambiguous: phase out every academic credential "centered on" Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI), including undergraduate majors, minors, certificates, and graduate degrees.

Provosts have been given until June 15, 2026, to identify every targeted program. Admissions into these programs are frozen effective immediately. No new students may declare majors in the phased-out fields. Students currently enrolled will be allowed to complete their degrees — a fair and measured approach that respects existing commitments while charting a new course.

A New Framework for Academic Integrity

Chancellor Creighton's memo goes beyond simply cutting programs. It establishes a new intellectual framework for how these topics can be discussed in remaining coursework. The policy requires "the legal recognition of only two human sexes" and "strictly prohibits the endorsement of a gender spectrum or fluid gender identities as empirical biological science."

This is not censorship — it is a return to scientific rigor. For too long, activist professors have presented ideological positions as settled science. The new framework allows limited exceptions: demographic data analysis, clinical psychology and health services, and objective discussion of policy and legal frameworks — provided the instruction "lacks advocacy for contemporary matters."

Historical and literary material where SOGI topics are "inextricably linked to the subject's historical significance" may still be taught, but with a focus on "objective literary/historical analysis, not contemporary SOGI advocacy."

Part of a Larger Reckoning

This decision did not occur in a vacuum. It follows a series of actions across Texas higher education that signal a fundamental shift. In September 2025, Texas A&M fired a professor and forced out its president after a student recorded a children's literature class promoting gender ideology. The state's Office of the Ombudsman launched a public complaint portal in January 2026, empowering any Texan to report DEI violations at state universities.

The Texas Tech decision sends a clear message to every public university in the state: the era of using taxpayer-funded institutions to advance progressive social agendas is over. Parents who send their children to Texas universities expect them to receive a rigorous education — not ideological indoctrination.

What It Means for Texas Families

For the thousands of Texas families who have contacted their representatives, attended school board meetings, and demanded change — this is your victory. Chancellor Creighton's action proves that persistent, organized pressure from principled citizens can reshape institutions that had drifted far from their core mission.

But the work is far from over. Other university systems across Texas and the nation continue to operate programs that prioritize ideology over education. Texas United Patriots will continue to monitor every public institution in the state and hold them accountable to the values of the families they serve.

This is what happens when Texans stand up. This is what happens when we refuse to be silent. And this is just the beginning.