Texas AG opens probe at UNT

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has opened an investigation into the University of North Texas over allegations that staff kept diversity, equity and inclusion instruction alive after the state ban took effect. (keranews.org) Paxton announced the probe on April 10 and said his office sent a letter to Nicole Dash, dean of the College of Public Affairs and Human Sciences, seeking records and an explanation of what staff said in a hidden-camera video. (fox4news.com) The investigation followed an undercover recording released by Accuracy in Media, a conservative activist group, that appeared to show a University of North Texas social work staff member saying diversity, equity and inclusion remained “definitely still a focus” and that course language had been changed while concepts stayed in place. (texasscorecard.com) The legal backdrop is Senate Bill 17, a 2023 Texas law that bars public colleges from maintaining diversity, equity and inclusion offices and from running certain hiring, training and programming tied to race, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation. The law took effect on January 1, 2024, as Texas Education Code Section 51.3525. (capitol.texas.gov) That law has already reshaped public campuses across Texas. Universities including the University of Texas system told employees they could not run the prohibited activities defined in Senate Bill 17, and schools statewide shut down or reorganized offices before the 2024 deadline. (utsystem.edu, wfaa.com) The University of North Texas has been under pressure from more than one direction. In March 2025, federal officials listed the school among roughly 45 universities facing investigation over alleged race-based practices, part of a wider national push against campus diversity programs. (axios.com) This is also not Paxton’s first recent clash with the Denton campus. In October 2025, he opened a separate investigation into the university’s handling of student reactions to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. (keranews.org) Critics of Texas’ anti-diversity, equity and inclusion law have said universities have gone beyond what the statute requires. PEN America said in November 2024 that the University of North Texas system was scrutinizing course instruction and research for diversity, equity and inclusion references in ways the group called “extreme overcompliance.” (pen.org) For now, the case is at the document-demand stage. Paxton is asking the University of North Texas to show how it has complied with state law, and the school’s response will determine whether the fight stays administrative or turns into a larger legal battle over what Texas can police inside a public university classroom. (fox4news.com, publicnow.com)