Texas Senate Bill 17 (SB 17) was signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott, effective January 1, 2024. Per the statute, “An institution of higher education may not establish or maintain a diversity, equity, and inclusion office or hire or assign an employee of the institution, or contract with a third party, to perform the duties of a diversity, equity, and inclusion office.”
The statute defines a duty of a DEI office as including “conducting trainings, programs, or activities designed or implemented in reference to race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation.”
Tarrant County College District will continue to follow the law as outlined in SB 17 and at this time, LinkedIn Learning is currently unavailable through TCCD. This does not impact the overall LinkedIn tool, which is separate from LinkedIn Learning, or access to any LinkedIn products through personal accounts of students and employees.
Faculty will provide alternate methods of supplemental student instruction if LinkedIn Learning is used in class while the tool is unavailable through TCCD.
TCCD employees are able to access similar training opportunities through the internal TCCD LearnCenter developed by Organizational Excellence and Development (OED). We are working diligently to identify and provide additional professional development solutions.