A Texas state office created to enforce the ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs has launched its first investigation into a public university accused of running a shadow DEI operation.
The probe targets Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, where a former student alleges the school is violating state law by operating “a shadow D.E.I. program in violation of state law.”
The complaint also alleges that university employees “discriminate against conservatives … and those that they perceive do not support D.E.I. or leftist political beliefs.”
“THE OFFICE OF THE OMBUDSMAN ENFORCES KEY TEXAS HIGHER EDUCATION LAWS THAT PROHIBIT DIVISIVE PRACTICES AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL DISCRIMINATION.”
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Office of the Ombudsman launched last year as a watchdog to ensure universities comply with anti-DEI laws. The office accepts complaints from students, faculty, and employees — and can push to withhold state funding from schools that violate state law.
Brandon L. Simmons, who leads the office, told The Daily Wire the agency takes every complaint seriously.
“We take every complaint seriously and will fully investigate allegations of potential violations. Our work helps protect a fair learning environment in which Texas students are treated equally under the law,” Simmons said.
The complaint centers on several alleged incidents involving a conservative student who says he faced retaliation for calling out viewpoint discrimination.
In one incident, the former student claimed a campus peer tutoring office restricted political speech following Charlie Kirk’s attack. After Kirk was targeted, university staff told students in the tutoring office “we’re a political free zone,” according to the student’s attorney, Tanner Franklin.
The student responded to the group message, pointing out that other tutors wore “clothing with obvious political slogans such as ‘No person can be illegal on stolen land’ and ‘From the River to the Sea,'” a Palestinian chant calling for wiping Israel off the map.
He was fired from the tutoring office shortly after.
Franklin, who is representing the ex-student alongside State Rep. Briscoe Caine, said the university retaliated against his client for demanding viewpoint neutrality.
“His point was that’s fine if you want to be viewpoint neutral, that’s fine, but you actually have to be viewpoint neutral. And in response, they deleted his comment immediately from the group and basically sent him a message separately, saying, ‘Well, we’ll handle it.’ And that was it. And then a week and a half later, he basically gets fired,” Franklin said.
In another instance, the ex-student said he was punished for asking a transgender student for their legal name when taking attendance. The transgender student would not provide their name, which was on the class roster, and only gave their preferred name.
“That student went and complained that my client was essentially being mean to him,” Franklin said.
The student and his attorney met with university officials to air his concerns, but the school’s response fell short.
“I left the meeting hopeful that SFA took my reports seriously and would take proper, and immediate action to address these serious issues. Unfortunately, that was not the case,” the student said in the complaint.
The school’s “update” more than a week later informed him they “would be ‘firming up dress code expectations.'”
“THIS FELL FAR SHORT OF THE FULL AND TRANSPARENT INVESTIGATION THAT I REQUESTED AND CERTAINLY DID NOT HOLD ANYONE ACCOUNTABLE.”
The university’s general counsel also told the former student that university employees “did not know what ‘From the River to the Sea’ meant.”
As a result, the former student chose not to walk at his graduation out of concern about further retaliation. Franklin said his client “was just so disheartened with how the university had handled this process.”
Franklin hopes the ombudsman’s office can push for accountability.
“We appreciate the Office of the Ombudsman for taking this complaint seriously and conducting a thorough investigation. Our client’s courageous decision to file this complaint is a critical step toward holding rogue university officials accountable,” Franklin said.
“We must ensure that the free speech rights of Texas students are protected and that any restrictions on speech are applied in a viewpoint-neutral manner. The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and the Legislature’s conservative majority have made it clear: Texans are tired of conservative student voices being silenced and targeted at our taxpayer-funded institutions. When it happens, there will be consequences.”
The university said it “complies with all state and federal laws,” adding that “if there is a governmental investigation, the university will fully cooperate.”
