The Battalion, the A&M student newspaper, reported the public university is deactivating 38 certificates and 14 minors, or 52 programs in all.
On a sprawling 5,500-acre campus, Texas A&M boasts one of the largest student populations in the U.S. with approximately 68,000 students supported by a faculty of approximately 3,900.
Reacting to the deactivated courses, Texas Values policy director Jonathan Covey calls it “positive news” for conservatives on the campus.
“My message to Texas A&M,” he says, “is that you can't go wrong focusing on academics rather than ideology.”
Not all of the dropped courses are political in nature: the Department of Geology is dropping a related minor and two related certificates, according to The Battalion.
According to a related article by Texas Scorecard, the minor in LGBTQ studies included classes such as “Sex and Sexuality in History,” “Queer Theory,” and “Gender and Genre.”
One of the certificates no longer offered is Social Justice Leadership that was offered by the Bush School of Government, the news website reported.
The decision to drop the liberal classes was praised by a state lawmaker, Rep. Brian Harrison, who has complained publicly about “taxpayer-funded indoctrination” at the public university.
“After months of calling for A&M to end this absurd program, I was pleased to learn from Chancellor Sharp they plan to end it,” Harrison told Texas Scorecard.
Covey says the state of Texas, which cherishes personal freedom and personal responsibility, doesn’t need ideology-driven classes that indoctrinate students at taxpayers’ expense.
“We need civic-minded, grounded, responsible students that bring value to the workforce,” he says. “And I think that Texas A&M would do well to focus on that."
