AUSTIN, Texas — Multiple University of Texas student organizations are raising money after they say the ban on DEI offices and initiatives is making it hard to find funding.
The area where UT's Multicultural Engagement Center used to sit is still full of diverse students despite the name being removed along with the department.
"It used to say Multicultural Engagement Center right there, but now it's been cleaned off," Christian Mira said. "We're still here for each other. We're still meeting up with each other. It's just hurdles are getting in our way before we can support ourselves and before we can succeed."
The change happened after Senate Bill 17, which took effect in January, banned Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) offices. Since then, organizations like the Black Student Alliance said they are struggling to find funding to get to the Big 12 Council on Black Student Government conference.
"We had a few just say straight up 'no,' even though they've given us money in the past," Aaliyah Barlow said.
Barlow is the Black Student Alliance President. She said typically, it takes them a week to raise $20,000 to go to the conference. But this year, it's been silent.
"So each year, we usually able to just send solicitations to the different departments within UT Austin," Barlow said.
Barlow said they sent solicitations earlier than usual in November because they knew the bill would be taking effect. She said they've raised less than $2,000 so far, with the event only three weeks away in Iowa, starting Feb. 29.
Barlow said the president's office was one of their prominent financial supporters.
"I think because of SB 17, all of them have kind of decided just to not respond to us this year," Barlow said. "It's kind of frustrating because we had a lot of these things going into college, and then it's kind of just been snatched."
If you would like to donate, you can email Texasbsa@gmail.com.
QTBIPOCA organization also impacted
Student organization QTBIPOCA, or the Queer Trans Black Indigenous People of Color Agency, created a GoFundMe to fund their community events. They were a university-sponsored organization before the DEI ban took effect.
"So that means that we had $8,000 annually of spending that we could use to promote our agenda, our mission, which is, you know, really just to make the campus a really community-centered space inclusive for BIPOC students," QTBIPOCA Financial Director Christian Mira said.
That $8,000 from the university was taken away this year, so Mira said they postponed community events to focus on finding funding.
"We had really big plans for a ball, for picnics ... Proms, things like that, or leadership institutes to help students [navigate] the workspace with a resume," Mira said.
According to Mira, getting cut off has been challenging. The organization is working to become a 501c3 nonprofit so that people are more willing to donate.
"This is all while we're being students like it's a big mission," Mira said. "It's a big task because we used to have support from staff, from the center, from the UT, from the administration and then all of it just gone."
KVUE reached out to UT, but we have yet to hear back. In the past, the university directed us to a letter announcing the creation of the Division of Campus and Community Engagement that read:
"Due to Senate Bill 17, the Multicultural Engagement Center has closed as of Jan. 1. The university will consider how best to use the space as part of the Powers Student Activity Center to continue building community for all Longhorns."