Jim Davis is applauded while being inducted as President of the University of Texas on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. Davis is one of several new leaders in Texas higher education installed in 2025.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
The year started with President Jay Hartzell’s resignation from University of Texas to lead Southern Methodist University in Dallas and concluded with two university systems adopting policies that restrict how race and gender can be taught.
In 2025, state lawmakers shifted the balance of power from faculty to governor-appointed regents. In the months after the legislative session concluded, three former Republican state leaders became chancellors of Texas university systems, including Brandon Creighton, the former Conroe Senator who championed conservative higher education legislation. He now leads the Texas Tech University System.
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Throughout the year, the Trump administration took a heavier hand in academic research, student and faculty visas and funding than his predecessors. He extended an offer to several universities for special funding benefits in exchange for allegiance to conservative priorities. UT was the lone university made the offer to neither publicly accept or refuse the deal.
Here are five pivotal ways that Texas higher education transformed in 2025:
New leadership
A Statesman analysis published last January documented eight major leadership changes at UT from Jan. 2023 to 2024. But 2025 brought even more shifts — UT named a new president, chancellor and provost all without faculty input, a departure from previous searches.
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RELATED: UT’s independence tested as politics reshapes Texas higher ed — again
After Hartzell’s resignation, the UT System named Jim Davis, former Chief Operating Officer of UT, as the state flagship’s interim president. Davis, now officially president, is the first UT leader in more than 100 years without a background in academia. This fall, he promised UT will serve as a new model of restoring public trust.
Davis’ second-in-command, Provost William Inboden, an open critic of universities today, said in a National Affairs article that “repairing the damage will not be easy.”
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Meanwhile, UT’s Dean of Students, Katie McGee, lost her position in October. And senior academic affairs leader Art Markman was fired for “ideological differences” in September.
MORE: Key UT academic affairs leader fired over ‘ideological differences’
Six of UT’s 18 dean positions are currently in flux, including those at two of UT’s largest colleges, Business and Liberal Arts. A months-old search firm with conservative ties is finding a replacement for at least two of the deans, according to records obtained by the American-Statesman, providing a possible window into the change to come.
DEEPER DIVE: UT picks search firm with conservative ties for College of Education
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Trump’s influence
President Donald Trump returned to office in late January, and it wasn’t long until higher education felt the rumblings of his reform. Elon Musk’s Department of Government of Efficiency cut at least $3 billion in research contracts nationwide, according to left-leaning think tank, the Center for American Progress. Despite the restoration of some funding, UT lost at least $47 million in grants, halting projects in energy, social sciences, mental health and technology access, an American-Statesman analysis found.
MORE: UT loses $47M in research grants under Trump Administration; more than 60 projects cut
But the administration’s impact on students has not been strictly monetary. In April, the American-Statesman reported that 176 UT System students had their visas suddenly revoked as the Trump Administration targeted students with anti-Israel sentiments or criminal records, though some students reportedly had infractions as minor as a parking ticket.
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UT experienced a 1.7% decline in enrolling international students this fall, about 1,504 students, despite setting an overall record for student enrollment.
RELATED: UT braces for potential Trump freeze on grants; judge blocks order
With a new bid to influence higher education this fall,the Trump administration proposed a Compact of Academic Excellence to nine institutions, including UT. UT System Chairman Kevin Eltife said the university would be thrilled to work with the Trump Administration. Student protests, led largely by the Austin chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, followed — urging UT to protect the university from political interference.
Seven of the other universities offered the deal have rejected the compact, and the eighth, Vanderbilt University, said it would be open to negotiations. UT declined to publicly comment on the compact, but did not reject or accept the compact as is by the stated deadline.
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Shifting power dynamics
In his final session as a senator before going to lead the Texas Tech University System, Creighton succeeded in shifting the balance of power on college campuses away from faculty through Senate Bill 37. University leaders historically consulted professors through faculty senates on university curriculum, policy and affairs because of their expertise, but Creighton and other critics said those groups had undue influence that they used to push liberal agendas.
MORE: Texas Legislature OKs SB 37, limiting faculty authority, core courses
Despite the Texas chapter of the American Association of University Professors’ efforts to fight against the legislation, the resulting law significantly weakened faculty input in leadership decisions while initiating a review of required courses and degrees led by political appointees. Regents also have veto power over new hires, including at the dean level, and will annually review the appointment of academic leaders.
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MORE: As UT ends senates, faculty mourn forum that guaranteed their voice
Starting Jan. 1, a new ombudsman office will investigate complaints that universities aren’t following the state laws such as the diversity, equity or inclusion ban. It is unclear how this will impact campuses locally. Governor Greg Abbott appointed former Texas Southern University System Chairman Brandon Simmons to lead the office.
MORE: UT Regents gain authority over schools, remain silent on Trump offer
At UT, the faculty senate disbanded and President Davis appointed two new faculty committees, though it is not clear if the groups will meet publicly, or how their feedback will be considered.
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Repeal of Texas’ Dream Act
Two days after the state legislative session ended, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Texas over its 24-year-old Dream Act. The legislation allowed eligible residents who graduated from a state high school, but were not U.S. citizens, to access in-state tuition if they signed an affidavit stating their intent to pursue citizenship. Texas declined to fight the suit, and within hours a judge ordered an injunction stopping enforcement of the law for students with no legal presence.
Though nonprofits and the Austin Community College board sued to intervene in the suit, a judge denied the college’s motion to intervene before the fall semester began, affecting up to 500 students at ACC and 760 at UT who would now face higher tuition rates. Students without legal documentation cannot access federal financial aid, making college less attainable for students forced to pay international fees. The college and nonprofits’ appeal is pending.
MORE: In-state tuition repeal for migrant students will cost Texas: experts
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The Trump administration’s suit argued the Dream Act gave unfair benefits to non-U.S. citizens, in violation of federal law. Those in support of the law said its strict eligibility requirements were more rigorous than for Texas residents. Texas’ law was the first of its kind in the nation, but nearly half of states now have similar proposals.
MORE: Civil rights groups sue to intervene after Texas Dream Act repeal
“The fact that this is something that came about in a matter of hours without any public conversation, opportunity for stakeholders to be consulted, knowing that its effect is immediate and far reaching,” Trustee Stephanie Gharakhanian said in June. “The only opportunity we had was to intervene.”
Scrutiny over gender identity
Perhaps the most transformation in higher education in 2025 came not from new laws or court challenges, but through social media. Years of boiling tensions over “liberal indoctrination” in universities came to a head in early September, when Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, shared a video of a Texas A&M University student accusing their professor of illegally teaching about gender identity — though no law bans such a lesson.
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REWIND: Texas A&M fires professor after gender identity remarks in class
Harrison said the “transgender indoctrination” taught by the children’s literature professor, who has a specialty in LGBTQ studies, violated the law and should result in her firing and the termination of Texas A&M President Mark Welsh. Within two weeks, both lost their jobs, along with the dean and department head.
As Texas’ university systems enter 2026, almost all have undergone course audits for mentions of gender identity. The Texas A&M University System banned courses that advocate for race or gender ideology without prior approval, and the Texas Tech University System followed, while also banning any mentions of gender identity.
In September, the UT System announced an audit for mentions of gender identity for compliance with the law and “system priorities,” but has not publicly discussed the results. The UT System also banned drag shows on its campuses in March through a policy the ACLU of Texas and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression called “vague and discriminatory.”
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On the Austin campus, UT announced in September that its health services would stop offering hormone replacement therapy, which is a common form of gender affirming care.
As the College of Liberal Arts committee looks to consolidate programs, many fear UT’s ethnic studies programs and women and gender studies programs could become political casualties.
But those calling for further reform, championed by Harrison, say the universities haven’t gone far enough.
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“My message is this to every other president, chancellor, regent at every public university: clean house,” Harrison said in a September interview following President Mark Welsh’s resignation. “You might be next.”
