From September 18 to November 26, the Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government & Public Service will offer a Certificate in Social Justice Leadership (CSJL) through its Center for Nonprofits & Philanthropy.
The university’s 2021 announcement said the certificate was “designed for nonprofit leaders committed to accelerating racial equity within nonprofit organizations.” At that time the program was also marketed as a “non-credit-bearing professional education opportunity for nonprofit practitioners.”
Gov. Greg Abbot signed Senate Bill 17 (SB17) into law on June 17, 2023, effective January 1, 2024. The bill prohibits DEI practices under section 51.603:
“(a) An institution of higher education may not: (1) compel, require, induce, or solicit a student enrolled at the institution … to: (A) endorse an ideology that promotes the differential treatment of an individual or group of individuals based on race, color, or ethnicity; or (B) provide a statement of the person’s: race, color, ethnicity, or national origin, except to record any necessary demographic information.”
The Texas Scorecard noted a loophole in the bill that only bans colleges from forming an official DEI department or using DEI measures during hiring processes. The law does not apply to course curricula, scholarly research, or student admissions. Thus, the CSJL program is not subject to SB17 restrictions.
According to the program description, students in the CSJL program will study how to identify and address alleged “inequities” that exist within nonprofit and public service organizations. Enrollees will receive foundational teachings that enable them to “take action” against alleged injustices as they consider “real-world social justice scenarios.”
The following modules were announced without accompanying course descriptions:
- Week 1 – Social Justice Leadership at Nonprofit Organizations
- Week 2 – Barriers to Racial Equity Within Nonprofits
- Week 3 – Workplace Culture and Dimensions of DEI
- Week 4 – Employing Leader Behaviors that Impact Equity
- Week 5 – Cultural Competence and its Role in Public Service
- Week 6 – Understanding the Cultural Competency Cycle
- Week 7 – Successful Approaches to Managing Diversity
- Week 8 – Why Ethical Leadership Matters
- Week 9 – Validating Strengths and Opportunities for Leader Development
- Week 10 – Taking Action and Creating Social Change
Three tiers of certification are available to students ranging from $1499 to $2250.
The program’s primary instructor, Dr. Kenneth Anderson Taylor, is an Associate Professor and Director of Outreach and Professional Development at the Center for Nonprofits & Philanthropy. As recent as the spring of 2024, Dr. Taylor taught a course called “Social Justice Leadership at Nonprofit Organizations” with a description that claims to help students “prioritize equity” and use data to “accelerate racial equity at nonprofit organizations.”
In May 2023, journalist Christopher Rufo declared, “Texas A&M is a systemically racist institution…According to the leadership of Texas A&M.” Rufo commentated on the university’s mission to expand equity coaching, which he believed to be centered on segregating students and “decentering whiteness.”
Rufo said DEI culture exploded at A&M in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Since 2020, the college appears to have abandoned conservative values in favor of adopting more progressive curricula, staff training, and multimedia.
Rufo stated: “The content of these programs is unadulterated left-wing activism…Administratively, the new DEI orthodoxy has resulted in a policy of widespread racial discrimination and segregation. The leadership has made it clear that administrators should pursue ‘structural diversity’ in which the demographics of the university become ‘representative of the demographic diversity of the state of Texas.’”
In a statement to the Texas Scorecard, Associate Vice President of Marketing & Communications, Kelly Brown, and Vice Chancellor for Marketing and Communications, Laylan Copelin, affirmed that since SB17 excludes academic research and instruction, the university will move forward with the CSJL program.
