University of North Texas: Departments Instruct Faculty to Disclose Outside Affiliations

On October 30, 2025, the University of North Texas Department of Teacher Education & Administration instructed all faculty and staff, including student employees and emeritus faculty, to disclose all active memberships in external organizations by October 31. UNT Libraries and the Biology and Social Work departments instructed their faculty to report all current memberships paid for by UNT or cited in their annual evaluations. The directives were issued as part of a university-wide review — conducted pursuant to an unspecified resolution agreement with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights — of all institutional, departmental, and individual memberships and partnerships with external organizations to “identify those that restrict participation based on race, color, ethnicity, or national origin.” On October 31, FIRE wrote UNT, reminding the university that broad inquiries into faculty affiliations chill freedom of association. FIRE urged UNT not to release the disclosures to any outside parties or penalize faculty who failed to comply.