AUSTIN (KXAN) – The University of Texas Austin has put a pause on new diversity, equity and inclusion policies. This comes after Governor Greg Abbott warned public universities that using DEI initiatives when hiring was illegal.

The announcement came Wednesday at the UT System’s Board of Regents meeting. The topic was not on the agenda, nor was it a discussion item.

This applies to all 13 university and health campuses across the state. DEI policies are initiatives meant to promote the representation of people of different backgrounds like race, age and gender.

During today’s meeting Chairman Kevin Eltife said they strive for diversity on campus amongst both students and faculty but that, “certain DEI efforts have strayed from the original intent to now imposing requirements and actions that, rightfully so, has raised the concerns of our policymakers about those efforts on campuses across our entire state.”

KXAN spoke with UT students who said they were disheartened by the news.

“I think that all students here at UT really value diversity, equity and inclusion… and I think that in recent years, have been really pushing for that on campus. So it’s odd to think that there’s been a pause,” said UT student Kiki Wallace.

Students like Ze Khan said it is better to have more diversity than to limit it.

“UT Austin is very diverse and I’d like to keep it that way,” Khan said.

The UT Austin Board of Regents also asked each campus for a report of its DEI policies to give them an opportunity to look over the various policies systemwide.

The university would not provide a further comment when KXAN reached out.