University of Texas at Austin President Jay Hartzell said Tuesday he is leaving the UT System’s flagship school to become the next president of Southern Methodist University, marking a major change in Texas higher education leadership and leaving open a job at the center of the state’s culture wars days before the start of a new legislative session.
SMU’s Board of Trustees unanimously voted to name Hartzell as the next president of the private university in Dallas on Tuesday. In a press release, Hartzell said that this was an opportunity “I could not pass up.”
“I look forward to building upon the university’s remarkable momentum and leading SMU into its next era,” he said.
Hartzell will become president June 1. SMU’s current president, R. Gerald Turner, will transition this summer to the role of president emeritus. He has led the university for three decades.
“Dr. Hartzell is a well-respected academician and higher education leader with a strong track record of accomplishments that make him the ideal candidate to build upon the tremendous energy and momentum we are experiencing here on the Hilltop,” said David B. Miller, chair of SMU’s Board of Trustees and co-chair of the presidential search committee.
Hartzell has been president of UT-Austin since 2020. He previously served as dean of the McCombs School of Business and has been a UT-Austin faculty member since 2001.
It was immediately unclear who will lead UT-Austin in the interim or when the Board of Regents will name a new president. UT-Austin did not respond to requests for comment. Many faculty and administrators told The Texas Tribune that they just learned of the news Tuesday morning.
In a statement, University of Texas System Board Chair Kevin Eltife and Chancellor James Milliken congratulated Hartzell on the new appointment.
“We wish President Hartzell our very best on his new leadership role in Dallas, and we thank him for his many contributions to UT over the past 24 years,” Eltife said in a statement, adding that the Board will work closely with the flagship campus to ensure a smooth transition.
Eltife told the Tribune the board will discuss next steps at its February meeting.
Hartzell’s tenure has been marred with tense political battles on campus that pitted faculty and students against the administration. It has also been shaped by legislative efforts to implement a more conservative vision of public higher education, such as a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion offices, and attempts to end faculty tenure and limit what can be taught in college classrooms. During Hartzell’s time as president, conservative lawmakers have increasingly railed against universities that they believe have been taken over by “woke” faculty who are trying to indoctrinate students.
On Tuesday, the reaction to Hartzell’s announcement drew shock from UT-Austin faculty members.
“I think everyone is terrified of the uncertainty of doing this right now right before the legislative session,” said Karma Chavez, a Mexican American and Latino studies professor. “Everyone is on edge.”
For higher education watchers, Hartzell’s departure speaks to the difficult nature of running a public university in today’s political climate.
Michael Harris, who studies higher education leadership at SMU, said the Texas Legislature’s recent higher ed proposals likely made it difficult for Hartzell to lead UT-Austin and made him look for a job elsewhere.
“I think being president of a public university in a red state right now is one of the hardest jobs in higher education,” Harris said.
The University of Texas Board of Regents tapped Hartzell to be interim president in 2020 to replace former President Gregory Fenves, who also left the university to lead a private school — Emory University in Atlanta.
Hartzell took over at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools were forced to shift thousands of classes online and cancel in-person events like graduation.
Then, the murder of George Floyd in late spring of that year sparked protests in cities across the country, prompting students at universities to demand their leaders better support Black students and build more racial equity on campus.
At UT-Austin, Texas football players released a list of demands, including that the school donate to the Black Lives Matter movement, rename parts of the football stadium and stop singing the school alma mater, The Eyes of Texas, which was originally written and performed at a campus minstrel show in 1903. While students and faculty called for the song’s removal, many alumni pushed the school to keep the song, threatening to pull donations.
In July 2020, Hartzell announced that the song would remain, but also announced a list of proposals to create a more welcoming campus. He organized a committee to study the origins of the song and find new ways for the school to talk about its history.
That summer, Hartzell was named the permanent president without a national search.
Throughout his tenure, Hartzell was consumed by decisions made at the Texas Capitol surrounding higher education. In 2023, lawmakers eliminated DEI offices on campus, prompting the school to lay off dozens of employees. The university’s steps to comply with the law angered students who said the administration overinterpreted the law.
“As with all new laws, I fully expect that there will be divided opinions on our campus about both the law itself and its eventual impacts on our University,” Hartzell wrote in a letter to the campus community at the end of 2023. “But it is the law, and with compassion and respect for all of our community members, we will comply.”
Last spring, Hartzell angered students and faculty with his handling of peaceful pro-Palestinian protests after hundreds of people were arrested on campus.
Hartzell requested armed state troopers to respond, prompting some faculty to call for a vote of no confidence on Hartzell and GOP leaders to praise him.
Hartzell’s announcement comes on the heels of other notable leadership changes at the flagship. Last semester, the university’s provost, who is in charge of academics, stepped down from the administrative role. The university police chief also resigned. Last semester, the dean of the College of Liberal Arts was told she would not be allowed to pursue a second term in the job, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
Under Hartzell, UT-Austin has gotten more academically selective. Last year, the school limited automatic admission to only those Texas high school students who graduate in the top 5% of their class. All other public universities in the state automatically accept Texas high school students in the top 10% of their class.
The four-year graduation rate increased to nearly 75% last year. This fall, the university had the second-largest freshman class ever. The university has tried to increase affordable housing for students, including graduate students who often have fewer campus-run housing options. The school also raised $1 billion to support students, part of a massive $6 billion campaign.
Hartzell also oversaw the university athletic department move to the Southeastern Conference. The Texas football team is two wins away from its first national championship in 20 years.
“People ask these questions of a president, ‘How do you want to be remembered?” Hartzell said at the State of the University address last semester. “Depending how this goes, it may just be the president who hired [coach Steve Sarkisian].”
SMU, meanwhile, has had a successful football season in its own right. The Mustangs are 11-3 overall this season and are standing at number one after joining the Atlantic Coast Conference last summer.
SMU has also raised a majority of its current major gifts campaign goal of $1.5 billion ahead of schedule.
The Dallas private school, which enrolls more than 12,000 students, is in a “thriving city,” University of North Texas professor Barrett Taylor said.
“So while it may not be as large or well known as UT-Austin, it’s in a much stronger position than most private universities are,” said Taylor, who coauthored a book in 2019 that included data showing more than three quarters of private colleges in the U.S. are financially vulnerable.
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