“I was willing to take a chance on a state traditionally hostile to my identity. . . I was wrong.”
Editor’s Note: This is part of our series on highlighting impacted voices from Texas universities who testified before the Texas Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education on May 14, 2024 on how SB 17 has impacted their lives.
Source: News Center, Campus & Community, The University of Texas at Dallas, “Points of Pride: UT Dallas Ranked Top University in Southwest for LGBTQ+ Students,” June 26, 2020.
When I was going through the process of college admissions, UT Dallas immediately stood out to me as a school that offered a strong scholarship and met my academic needs excellently. This is undeniable, and it would be disingenuous to deny this as my primary reason for moving to Texas.
But beyond that, I saw a school that would be accepting and supportive of my identity as a trans woman—a school that has won awards for queer diversity despite its location in the solidly conservative South. I saw that the school had a dedicated gender center providing resources and support to people like me, and I was willing to take a chance on a state traditionally hostile to my identity. I hoped that Texas would stay true to the values of limited government and freedom of expression that it so strongly espoused and would let its academic institutions function on their own to best cater to the needs of their student body.
I was wrong.
Over the past school year, I have watched campus institutions that have actively served and let thrive marginalized students be rapidly dismantled by a legislature largely divorced from the consequences of their actions in academia. I have watched my student government and student organizations scramble to pick up the slack left behind by an administration that has been forced to shrug its shoulders at SB 17, cut offices, and fire completely innocent workers. And despite this, I would say I have found value in my time at university. I have made good friends, good connections, and learned heartily from professors who actually care about their students in spite of the gradual collapse taking place around me and my trans community.
But I cannot recommend anyone come to Texas for college—especially anyone that is at the whims of whatever identity-based crusade happens to be the state government’s priority of the day.
Do better. Do better, while there is still time.