The University of Texas System board approved new rules designed to make it easier for UT institutions to cut programs and eliminate faculty roles, according to reports from inside the system. The revised policy allows presidents to remove programs without faculty review and to streamline appeals for individual position eliminations. The changes shift decision-making authority toward presidents and chief academic officers using criteria set by the president, including cost, completion rates, student demand and enrollment, and how degree programs are prioritized. The policy also allows presidents to accelerate eliminations without academic review in narrowly defined “rare, extraordinary, and time-sensitive” compliance scenarios. Tenured faculty previously had participation rights in review processes overseen by committees of faculty and administrators. Under the new approach, faculty appeals are limited to individual position eliminations where the professor can demonstrate a “protected property interest,” focusing the appeal on whether the action was arbitrary or unreasonable. The board’s action lands amid wider concerns about academic freedom in Texas public higher education—particularly following curricular rule changes and earlier state actions affecting faculty governance bodies.