UT Austin president confirms DEI-related layoffs through Zoom [Video]

AUSTIN, Texas — University officials confirmed nearly 60 employees at the University of Texas at Austin have been laid off.

Since SB 17 went into effect, limiting DEI initiatives, UT has taken various steps to comply with the Texas law.

The Statesman reports that Hartzell took prewritten questions during a meeting Monday, where he confirmed 49 employees in DEI-related positions were terminated. Another eight associate or assistant deans who worked with related duties were also returned to their full-time faculty positions. Eight more people in the Student Affairs Division were terminated, but the university said it was unrelated to the April 2 layoff announcements. Lastly, Hartzell said one person decided to retire instead of having their position eliminated.

Initial reports suggested at least 60 employees would be laid off. Previously, UT would not confirm how many people were let go, but the Texas Conference of the American Association of University …