Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday sued a group calling itself Texas American Muslim University, accusing it of operating without state approval, misleading prospective students and using a name too similar to Texas A&M.
The lawsuit asks a Collin County judge to stop the group that promoted itself as TexAM from operating as a private university in the state without approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. It also seeks to bar TexAM from using names, logos or branding that could confuse people into thinking it is connected to Texas A&M University or the Texas A&M University System.
TexAM advertised bachelor’s and master’s degree programs, promoted a student campus in Richardson, and solicited students online and overseas, according to the attorney general’s office.
Paxton is seeking more than $1 million in civil penalties for alleged violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and Texas Education Code.
“My office will not allow illegal, unaccredited degree mills to operate in Texas,” Paxton said in a news release.
The lawsuit names TexAM and three people associated with it as defendants: Shahid A. Bajwa, Bilal Piracha and Arsalan Shahzad.
Bajwa, TexAM’s founder and chairman, told The Texas Tribune Monday that the group had already complied with the coordinating board’s cease-and-desist letter, stopped using the university name and stopped offering graduate classes.
TexAM is no longer operating as a university but will continue operating as an institute, he said.
Piracha and Shahzad could not be immediately reached for comment.
Bobbi Kessler, a coordinating board spokesperson, said Monday TexAM had complied with the letter. Officials from the attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to questions about why it sued if TexAM had complied.
The coordinating board sent TexAM a cease-and-desist letter May 6 notifying the school leaders that they never received state approval to offer degrees. Board officials publicly announced the action the next day, saying they acted at Gov. Greg Abbott’s direction.
The Texas A&M University System issued its own cease-and-desist letter on May 8, saying TexAM’s name and branding could confuse the public into thinking the organization was affiliated with the Aggies.
The rapid response followed a May 5 report from Texas Scorecard, a conservative outlet whose coverage has increasingly drawn attention from Republican officials. That site reported TexAM was marketing itself as a Dallas-based Muslim university offering STEM degrees with mandatory Islamic studies courses.
The scrutiny of TexAM comes as anti-Muslim rhetoric is more prominent in Texas Republican politics. GOP candidates — including Paxton —are campaigning against Sharia law and what they call the “Islamification” of Texas, alarming Muslim civil rights groups. Paxton faces incumbent John Cornyn in a Republican primary runoff election for U.S. Senate on May 26. The winner will face Democratic nominee James Talarico in November.
Bajwa previously told the Tribune that including “Muslim” in TexAM’s name reflected the founders’ identity and values, similar to other faith-based institutions. He said the organization welcomed students of all backgrounds and that its Islamic studies coursework was meant to complement its STEM courses.
Bajwa said he was confused by the lawsuit because, according to him, the coordinating board extended TexAM’s deadline to comply, giving the group until May 11 to make changes, which its leaders did.
“This, I think, is not right,” Bajwa said, adding he believed there had been “some miscommunication.”
Before its website went offline, TexAM advertised a master’s degree in artificial intelligence and spring 2026 courses in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, health systems, Islamic ethics in artificial intelligence, Islamic economics, calculus and computing, screenshots captured by The Tribune show.
Several course pages noted that the classes were worth three credits and could count toward a bachelor’s or master’s degree, or be taken as non-degree courses. The pages listed course fees of $99 for overseas students and $297 for U.S. residents.
Bajwa previously told the Tribune that TexAM had not charged tuition and did not grant degrees, certificates or credentials. He said the organization understood it needed IRS nonprofit status, a certificate of authority from the coordinating board and accreditation before offering degrees.
He did not immediately answer follow-up questions Monday about whether students paid registration fees, course fees, donations or other costs, or whether students took classes expecting them to later count toward a degree.
Texas Secretary of State records show the group formed in 2023 as Texas American Technologies Foundation, a nonprofit corporation with a stated purpose of education services, faculty development and STEM and technology research. It later changed its name to Texas American Muslim Institute for Technology, at Dallas, and filed an assumed name certificate to conduct business as Texas American Muslim University, at Dallas.
Registering an assumed name with the Secretary of State is separate from receiving state approval to operate as a private degree-granting institution.
State records also show TexAM has lost its nonprofit corporation status at least twice.
The lawsuit alleges that during the first instance, TexAM hosted a March 2025 fundraising event in Plano that encouraged supporters to make tax-deductible donations through a third-party nonprofit and to support a student through a $1,1667-a-month scholarship. TexAm most recently lost its nonprofit corporation status in February after failing to resolve a tax-related compliance issue with the Comptroller.
The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
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