The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board on Thursday approved the elimination of undergraduate programs in physics at Prairie View A&M University and Texas Southern University, rejecting appeals from the historically black institutions, The Houston Chronicle reported. The board has identified hundreds of programs for elimination, based on low enrollment. But advocates for those two physics programs questioned why the state would be cutting off opportunities to produce more black scientists at a time that many experts say that the only way the United States will achieve its goals in science education is with more participation from all racial and ethnic groups.