A message from the Interim Chief Compliance Officer
Henry Judah

Distributed to all faculty and staff at Texas A&M University.

Last summer, the 88th Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 17 (S.B. 17), and now Sec. 51.3525 of the Texas Education code, during its regular session to prohibit diversity, equity and inclusion offices and initiatives at public universities, effective Jan. 1, 2024. On Aug. 16, 2023, The Texas A&M University System approved revisions to System Policy 08.01, which provided the framework for System members’ implementation of the requirements of S.B. 17. The System also released a set of frequently asked questions to further guide the university’s implementation of, and compliance with S.B. 17.

The System Ethics and Compliance Office, in cooperation with System General Counsel, has now developed standard procedures to track and respond to any alleged violations of S.B. 17 going forward, centralizing reporting across the System schools.

The law requires the Board of Regents to certify Texas A&M’s compliance to the Texas Legislature and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board annually each August. This centralized and standardized process will provide important information to the System Office of Internal Audit in support of the board’s certification.

The Division of Risk, Ethics and Compliance (DREC) at Texas A&M will serve as steward of this new process at the university. The approved S.B. 17 response procedures are as follows and available to review online:

• Report all alleged violations to the System’s risk, fraud and misconduct hotline. The System’s ethics and compliance officer will provide acknowledgement of receiving the report.
• Forward all emails, calls, text messages or communications of any kind to the attention of Henry Judah, interim chief compliance officer for Texas A&M. DREC will provide a standard response to the reporter, copying General (Ret.) Mark A. Welsh III, president of Texas A&M, and the System Office General Counsel.
• If you become aware of published articles, report these through the System’s hotline. A formal response will be provided to the publisher or media outlet by the System Office of Marketing and Communications in cooperation with Texas A&M’s Division of Marketing and Communications, as appropriate.

Should you have any questions or concerns regarding this process, please contact the Division of Risk, Ethics and Compliance.

Henry Judah
Associate Vice President and Interim Chief Compliance Officer, Texas A&M University