The University of Texas System board approved new policies that make it easier for UT institutions to eliminate academic programs and cut faculty, drawing renewed concern about academic freedom and the shrinking role of faculty governance. The updated rules allow UT presidents to cut programs without faculty review and to remove individual faculty roles under a streamlined appeals process. Program elimination decisions would be handled using criteria set by the president’s office and would not be subject to appeal when an entire program is ended. Faculty appeals would be limited to individual position eliminations where the faculty member can show a protected property interest, shifting disputes toward narrow due-process claims rather than broader academic review. The policy arrives amid statewide scrutiny tied to Texas higher-ed governance changes and politicized faculty actions.