About 50 students, university employees and supporters gathered outside University Baptist Church near the University of Texas at Austin on Friday, Sept. 25, to protest changes to academic programs and raise concerns about academic freedom. Organized by the Texas State Employees Union, the gathering included speeches before participants marched along Guadalupe Street. The protest followed UT’s consolidation of four departments into a new Department of Social and Cultural Analysis: African and African Diaspora Studies; American Studies; Mexican American and Latina/o Studies; and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. The university has also said new students will no longer be able to declare majors in African and African Diaspora Studies, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, or Women’s and Gender Studies. Students already in those programs can finish their degrees, while faculty have until the end of the semester to propose new majors. Ilesa Daniels Ross, president of the Texas State Employees Union, said the union organized the demonstration to support students and faculty and to defend their ability to shape their education. She said students should have a say in what and how they learn. Students said they have received little information about the university’s plans. Devon May, a junior studying sociology and government and a member of Students for a Democratic Society, said students and faculty have discussed the changes, but details about what comes next remain scarce. For Diana Garcia, a senior studying government and rhetoric and writing with a minor in Mexican American Studies, the uncertainty affects her academic future. She said students check their email regularly for updates and are often left without answers or receive disappointing news. Lina-Maria Murillo, an associate professor in UT’s Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies department, said some classes have already seen lower enrollment. She warned that restricting what can be taught or discussed makes it harder to provide a broad education, and that students feel the effects. UT has said the reorganization reflects student demand, the departments’ size and scope, the university’s academic mission and how resources are distributed. The union said it plans to keep organizing to press university leaders to hear students’ and employees’ concerns.