Gov. Greg Abbott threatened President Mark A. Welsh III in a post on X after screenshots spread online suggesting that Texas A&M was breaking state law by “sponsoring a trip to a DEI conference that prohibits whites and Asians from attending.” The social media post comes despite A&M’s general counsel affirming that partnering with the conference abided by the state’s anti-DEI law’s recruitment exemptions. 

“It’s against Texas law and violates the US Constitution,” Abbott wrote on X Monday night in response to the claim. “It will be fixed immediately or the president will soon be gone.” 

A follow-up statement from Welsh posted on A&M’s X account roughly two-and-a-half hours after Abbott’s comments said the university “does not support any organization, conference, process or activity that excludes people based on race, creed, gender, age or any other discriminating factor. The intent of SB-17 is very clear in that regard. We will continue to honor both the letter and the intent of the law.” 

Senate Bill 17, signed into law by Abbott on June 17, 2023, banned diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and offices at public universities. However, the law has specific exemptions for various recruitment initiatives, including The PhD Project, the conference Abbott refers to in his social media post. 

The PhD Project hosts an annual conference focusing on networking and mentoring opportunities for “historically underrepresented students,” and students must identify as “Black/African American, Latinx/Hispanic America, or Native American/Canadian Indigenous” to apply, according to its website. Dozens of universities partnered with the conference nationwide, including 10 other Texas universities besides A&M:

• Baylor University
• Rice University
• Texas Tech University
• University of Houston 
• University of North Texas
• University of Texas at Austin
• University of Texas at Dallas
• University of Texas at El Paso
• University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley
• University of Texas at San Antonio

Other notable universities include Auburn University, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Louisiana State University, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Oklahoma.

The screenshots Abbott references show Mays Business School faculty discussing the conference over email.   

“For those of you who’ve not attended, a key feature of the conference is the University Program Fair, where representatives from business schools meet with prospective students to share insights about their programs,” Associate Dean for Research and Scholarship Michael Withers wrote on Jan. 8.

Withers also noted that the business school consulted with A&M’s general counsel and confirmed that it followed SB 17’s legal requirements.

“Supporting The PhD Project is permissible under recruitment exemptions in SB 17, as the project’s outward focus means it is not considered an ‘outsourcing’ of university DEI functions,” the guidance reads.   

Additionally, legal guidance A&M distributed before SB 17 went into effect said the law “does not prohibit an institution from supporting third-party academic or professional conferences or programs at locations away from campus.” 

“For example, a university may be a sponsor for an out-of-state conference that focuses on an appropriate academic topic but includes DEI programming of a limited nature without violating SB 17,” the document, written by the A&M System’s Office of General Counsel, reads. “However, if an institution were to make attendance at such a conference mandatory, it would violate SB 17.”

The original screenshots were posted on X by conservative writer Christopher F. Rufo, who claimed A&M was “supporting racial segregation and breaking the law” by sending graduate students and faculty to attend the conference. It received over 700,000 views and was quoted by another individual who tagged Abbott’s X account before the governor responded.