11 November 21 - 27, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents near the end of the interview. “Of course there is,” Homan replied. “Families can be deported together.” That answer is unacceptable to Al-Ju- buri, who points to data that shows a major- ity of those living illegally in the United States have been in the country for a decade or longer and have built families while “in- vesting into the nation.” “There is no humane way to execute workplace raids,” Al-Juburi said. “There is no humane way to create a pervasive culture of fear throughout the United States.” “Humane” is exactly how Homan de- scribed Trump’s deportation plan on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures”; Al-Ju- buri believes that as the incoming adminis- tration prepares to execute an unprecedented number of deportations, of- ficials may begin using less-severe language to keep Americans from becoming turned off by the policies. That said, one look at Trump’s campaign rhetoric shows that a majority of Americans may not be as sensitive to anti-immigrant talking points as Al-Juburi thinks. When Hurricane Helene devastated swaths of North Carolina in late September, Trump incorrectly claimed that FEMA was failing to aid the region because the agency had spent its money on undocumented im- migrants. In October, after conservative talking heads and politicians perpetrated an unfounded rumor that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating the towns’ pets, Trump vowed to revoke the Tempo- rary Protected Status that shielded the im- migrants from deportation. Trump won both states: 51% in North Carolina and 55% in Ohio. “It wasn’t just left-leaning individuals that were horrified by family separation when it came to light in 2018,” Al-Juburi said. “I think the [response to these] situations will be dif- ferent than the engagement with racist rhet- oric coming from a campaign that may or may not be elected into office. I think the stakes are very different. And I do have faith in the American public to speak up when something is antithetical to our values.” ▼ EDUCATION OVER THE LINE UNT CALLED OUT BY FREE EXPRESSION GROUP FOR EXTREME DEI BAN EFFORTS. BY KELLY DEARMORE T he University of North Texas has been accused of “extreme overcom- pliance” with a recent Texas law that requires state universities to cease diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) efforts. The charge was leveled by PEN America, ac- cording to a Friday news release. The statement from PEN comes after The Dallas Morning News reported on Thursday that as many as 78 changes were made to the school’s courses in order to align with the state’s DEI ban. “The course changes at the University of North Texas’ college of education included removing words such as ‘race,’ ‘gender,’ ‘class’ and ‘equity’ from titles and descrip- tions,” the Morning News report stated. “Bill Camp, faculty in the college of education, emailed colleagues on Oct. 28 alerting them of the changes made to graduate courses.” For its part, PEN America expressed shock at the lengths UNT seems to have gone to rid itself of anything remotely re- sembling a DEI effort. “Making up provisions in SB 17 that do not exist is the hallmark of a higher educa- tion system that has gone totally rogue,” said Jeremy C. Young, PEN America’s Freedom to Learn program director, in a statement. “The situation at UNT is one of the most ex- treme cases of overcompliance with a cen- sorship law we have ever seen. SB 17 already restricts diversity initiatives and program- ming on campus, which is bad enough. But by extending the reach of this law into areas explicitly protected by the legislation itself, UNT is not only misinterpreting the law but also putting faculty members’ academic freedom in severe jeopardy.” The University didn’t respond to our re- quest for a reaction to PEN America’s state- ment, but a spokesperson for the school did tell The Dallas Morning News earlier this week that the changes are not related to SB 17. Instead, they’re an effort to ensure that “its curriculum is in line with teacher edu- cation standards as required by the state.” Signed into law in 2023, SB 17 says that public universities in Texas cannot make di- versity training related to race, color, ethnic- ity, gender identity or sexual orientation a mandatory requirement, nor fund or staff DEI programs at the school. PEN American explained in its statement, however, that “SB 17 explicitly exempts from the ban “aca- demic course instruction” and “scholarly re- search or a creative work” by students, faculty, or other research personnel.” The news of UNT’s changes comes just days after it was announced that Texas A&M University has cut more than 50 mi- nors and certificates, including LGBTQ Studies, that the school says were “low pro- ducing.” According to a Texas Tribune re- port, dozens of A&M faculty appeared at a Board of Regents meeting to oppose the board’s decision, one that a faculty member said “has no precedent.” Earlier this year, we looked at how the DEI ban was negatively affecting students in North Texas. One recent UNT alumna ex- pressed concern that the benefits of her campus experience will not be available for students moving forward. “As an undergraduate and a graduate stu- dent, I experienced the rich diversity of the UNT student body,” UNT graduate Brianna Clay said. “I experienced and witnessed di- verse student organizations and support for diverse perspectives among our student leaders and Greek lettered organizations. What worries me most about Texas’ SB17 is the impact that it can have on outcomes for students from historically disadvantaged groups and even more so for their sense of belonging to truly flourish in predominantly white institutions.” Tracy Everbach, a journalism professor at UNT who has taught a course on “race, gen- der and the media” since 2009, told the Morning News that she was unclear about the future of that course in light of the changes. “I don’t really get what UNT’s strategy is,” Everbach told the Observer. “I don’t know that they have one.”
