The culture at UT Austin reflects apparent discrimination based on religion, race, and ethnicity by actively suppressing the free speech of Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish, and other students, staff, and faculty who oppose occupation and apartheid, making them feel marginalized. In 2022, the university interfered in student democratic processes, declaring student support for Palestinian humanity a non-university issue but later having President Hartzell issue a statement apparently supportive of Israel. University administration opted to deploy state force against students engaged in the American tradition of protest. A July report found the university violated its own institutional rules in its response to anti-genocide protestors.
On the UT Austin website, the university leaders declare, “we value a culture of learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity and responsibility to transform lives and society.” In a statement posted on April 9, 2024, UT Austin claimed that it “has no tolerance for violence or other hateful actions against any of our community members, including those in our Muslim, Palestinian, and Arab communities. We are committed to a campus and community where respect for difference is embraced, and all feel safe and supported by our University.”
In February of 2022, the Dean of Students interfered with student legislative processes and deemed a resolution in support of Palestinian students’ rights on campus a “non-university related matter.” President Jay Hartzell’s October 17, 2023 letter addressed the suffering of the Israeli people, failed to address the history of the occupation in Palestine, and failed to explain the policy change regarding the topic.
In November 2023, two teaching assistants at the University of Texas at Austin were reportedly dismissed after sharing a statement to students that “acknowledge[d] the mental health implications of the current escalation of violence in Gaza,” following a request from a student that the “mental health needs of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students” be acknowledged. The instructors reportedly received approval from the course’s faculty member to distribute the statement. However, the dean of the Steve Hicks School of Social Work reportedly sent dismissal letters to the teaching assistants, claiming that they lacked “professional judgment,” that the statement was “unprompted,” and that they had not received “approval of the supervising faculty member.”
A group of Muslim students at the University of Texas-Austin were reportedly harassed by three men during a Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) meeting on campus in October 2023. The men reportedly confronted the student organizers and repeatedly called them “f****** terrorists.” Before the event, the students had also reportedly received a hateful message in their Instagram inbox. In October, the university reportedly claimed that they believed there was no “criminal offense,” although they later noted that the men “could be subject to a criminal trespass violation.” In November, the university reported, however, that it had not yet been able to identify the men, even though both the students and NBC News have reportedly been able to identify them and noted that at least one of them is not difficult to reach online.
On April 24, university administrators at the University of Texas at Austin requested state troopers to disperse a student protest, resulting in the arrest of over 50 demonstrators. In its reporting on the incident, the Texas Tribune noted, “No one accused the people gathered of turning violent.” That same reporting notes that demonstrations at other Texas sites were resolved through communication rather than state force. Faculty report that they had witnessed “police punching a female student, knocking over a legal observer, dragging a student over a chain link fence, and violently arresting students simply for standing at the front of the crowd.”
Charges against the demonstrators were reportedly dropped due to “lack of sufficient probable cause.” Despite this lack of probable cause, the university administration still reportedly banned all the arrested students from campus except for “academic reasons.”
Another 79 people were reportedly arrested at another campus demonstration on April 29.
Since the egregious response to the April 24th and 29th 2024 protests, students were forced into student conduct processes without the option for hearings. One student was suspended, and multiple students received deferred suspensions, requiring them to take an exam on university rules and waive their right to appeal. UT has changed its free speech rules “placing greater limitations on expression and affording the university more power to quench it, as well as expanding authority to non-UT police to enforce campus rules.”
The Daily Texan reports, “In July, the Committee of Counsel on Academic Freedom and Responsibility released a report which concluded the University violated its own institutional rules during its response to the April pro-Palestinian protests. “
Additionally, UT Austin has vague policies restricting off-campus speech: “Section 13–204 on harassment applies to all speech on campus, to speech made using University resources, and to off-campus speech that materially interferes with a person’s education or employment.”
