A secretly recorded video has kicked off a fresh political fight in Denton, with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launching a formal investigation into the University of North Texas after a hidden-camera clip appeared to show a social work staffer describing how diversity, equity and inclusion content lives on in classes. Paxton is demanding records and has called for the staffer to be fired, while UNT says the employee is no longer on the payroll. The clash is the latest flashpoint in a wider statewide struggle over how public universities navigate a 2023 law that restricts institutional DEI efforts while still meeting accreditation rules.
Paxton's demand and the investigation
According to a press release from the Texas Attorney General’s Office, Paxton has opened an official probe and sent a letter to the dean of UNT’s College of Public Affairs and Human Sciences. The letter seeks "an explanation of the claims," copies of all DEI-related policies and guidance, details about accreditation, and all correspondence involving DEI. In the release, Paxton labeled the described conduct "calamitous" and added, "This should result in immediate termination." His office said the inquiry was triggered by an online video that appears to show a staff member explaining how DEI-aligned material remains embedded in coursework.
The video that sparked it
The three-minute undercover recording, posted by Accuracy in Media, appears to feature Paige Falco, a field education coordinator, saying that DEI is "definitely still a focus" and describing how certain phrases can be stripped from course titles while the underlying content stays in place. After the clip surfaced on YouTube, several outlets picked it up, noting that the staffer pointed to national accreditation requirements as a reason some of the material remains in the curriculum. The video, paired with Paxton’s letter, has reignited arguments over how far universities can go in aligning with accreditors while staying inside the lines of state law.
UNT's response
In comments provided to The Dallas Morning News, UNT said the employee shown in the recording "is no longer employed" at the university and described the statements in the clip as out of step with the institution’s commitments and legal compliance obligations. Officials have not released further information about the personnel move but confirmed they intend to cooperate with the attorney general’s document requests. Administrators across the UNT system have already been restructuring offices and programs that previously managed DEI initiatives since the new state law came into force.
What the law allows and forbids
Senate Bill 17, approved in 2023, bars public universities in Texas from creating or maintaining DEI offices, hiring staff whose duties center on DEI, or running trainings and programs that focus on protected characteristics. At the same time, the statute carves out explicit exceptions for academic course instruction, scholarly research, and activities needed to satisfy accreditation requirements. That framework is echoed in a UNT System guidance memo that spells out which activities must be dismantled to comply with Texas Education Code §51.3525 and which are allowed to continue. As The Texas Tribune has reported, the law has pushed campuses to overhaul long-standing diversity units while still upholding federally required nondiscrimination protections.
Accreditation pressure in social work programs
The Council on Social Work Education’s 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards include a competency titled "Engage Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ADEI) in Practice". Programs say they are required to teach that competency to retain accreditation. CSWE notes that such national standards can create friction for social work programs in states where laws limit institutional DEI activity. That backdrop helps explain why a field education coordinator in the video told an undercover investigator that the topic remains "a focus" for the program even as specific wording has been scrubbed from syllabi.
What comes next
Paxton’s letter directs UNT to provide a formal explanation and a wide range of records, and the attorney general’s office says it will review the university’s response as part of the broader investigation. The office has launched similar probes involving UNT before, most recently in October 2025, which raises the stakes for how quickly and thoroughly administrators answer this latest round of questions. For now, the inquiry is likely to spur new internal reviews as UNT tries to thread the needle between accreditation demands and the limits set by state law.
Why it matters locally
For students, faculty and families in Denton, the controversy highlights the narrow path Texas universities are trying to walk, squeezed between accreditors on one side and lawmakers on the other. The Dallas Observer has tracked similar tensions across North Texas campuses, as political scrutiny increases over how institutions handle diversity-related work and the money attached to it. UNT’s formal reply to Paxton, and any follow-up steps from the attorney general, will be closely watched not just in Denton but at other Texas campuses facing the same collision of legal and curricular pressures.
