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Posted
12 minutes ago, Rex Kramer said:

I don’t really know what happened. Neither do you. I know that if a group I supported were arrested and ultimately released without charge because of police being heavy handed or because of campus administration / police being scared of a PR disaster, I’d get over it very quickly. 

I believe more alumni are more perturbed with the messages the naive protestors were sending than anything Abbott or Hartzell or police did.  I don’t think the comparison is close. 

Curious why you think that the alumni at UT are so out of step with the majority of Americans. Especially when you consider that the majority of UT Alumni are white with college degrees?

A majority of Americans disapprove of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, in a pronounced shift from November, according to a new poll released by Gallup on Wednesday.

In a survey conducted from March 1-20, 55 percent of U.S. adults said they disapproved of Israel’s military actions — a jump of 10 percentage points from four months earlier, Gallup found.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/27/world/middleeast/military-action-americans-gaza.html

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Posted
16 minutes ago, Rex Kramer said:

I don’t really know what happened. Neither do you. I know that if a group I supported were arrested and ultimately released without charge because of police being heavy handed or because of campus administration / police being scared of a PR disaster, I’d get over it very quickly. 

I believe more alumni are more perturbed with the messages the naive protestors were sending than anything Abbott or Hartzell or police did.  I don’t think the comparison is close. 

Everyone wants to know what your five wealthy friends who are scared of Cloak Room think?

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Posted
1 hour ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Meanwhile in Atlanta...

 

Uh oh, Atlanta cop wearing a mask covering his entire face. I’m sure @Frank Drebin will be by shortly to condemn the actions of Atlanta PD.

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Posted
9 minutes ago, Foosters said:

Curious why you think that the alumni at UT are so out of step with the majority of Americans. Especially when you consider that the majority of UT Alumni are white with college degrees?

For the same reasons that his ilk are convinced the election was stolen. They are stupid fucking rubes. 

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Posted

For the fiscal conservatives and tough on crime crowd, how do you feel about the waste of money and resources on a performative demonstration by law enforcement? Do you think the money and resources could have been to better use in policing the greater Austin community?

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Posted
1 hour ago, wildcat09 said:

Again, y’all just need to search for posts with the word “speech” made by Johnny Sack . . . to realize he’s completely full of shit and simply trolling

Oh I’m quite capable of realizing Sack is full of shit without going to all that trouble.

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Posted
18 minutes ago, royiv said:

For the fiscal conservatives and tough on crime crowd, how do you feel about the waste of money and resources on a performative demonstration by law enforcement? Do you think the money and resources could have been to better use in policing the greater Austin community?

 

Are you asking Republicans to think critically and give an honest answer as to why two of their talking points are contradictory?

IIt's a reasonable request, but ou will stop sucking before you get a thoughtful response.

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Posted
2 hours ago, Dahobbs said:

 Sounds like, the University was intentionally stamping down on free speech and violating constitutional rights. Sounds like Hartzell was full of shit and had already decided the outcome before the event took place. 

2 hours ago, BeardIP said:

Completely and pure speculation, but I could see the thinking and reasoning being an overreaction to the Harvard and Penn presidents who were fired--er, resigned-- due to their not stepping in and allowing things to get out of control. So maybe he's thinking about his job, which is kind of ironic, give that this overreaction the other direction is more likely to cost it than inaction (probably) was.

Maybe he was probably thinking, "crap, I don't want to get paraded in front of congress and embarrased and what a pain in the butt, and who knows what happens if this thing gets out of control and goes all anti-semitic like it did in the Ivies, ugh. better safe than sorry, and I AM in Texas, after all..."

Heavy is the head that wears the crown, I guess.

56 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Hartzell’s letter also appears to ascribe a meaning to the word occupy that is above and beyond the generally accepted meaning of being in the space. And using the term as sometimes to imply “without authority to do so.”  Then acting on the implied meaning prior to any actual rules being violated. 

“Nobody is allowed to occupy campus” is such a red herring.

 

Looks like they weren't going to allow an "occupation" like what's happening at Columbia, USC, Stanford, etc; and as was promised by the "UT Palestine solidarity committee":

https://thetexan.news/texas-local-news/ut-austin-palestine-solidarity-committee-plans-student-walk-out-occupation-of-campus/article_9b7c33b0-0257-11ef-9fcd-7724fc01bfbb.html

 

Quote

The University of Texas (UT) at Austin Palestine Solidarity Committee is planning a classroom walk-out on Wednesday, where students are invited to “occupy” the South Lawn of the campus.

“The footsteps of our comrades at Columbia SJP, Rutgers-New Brunswick, Yale, and countless others across the nation, we will be establishing THE POPULAR UNIVERSITY FOR GAZA and demanding our administration divest from death,” states the Instagram post.

 

All things considered, I think it went well, with no injuries, deaths, or horrible videos for folks to fixate on. There was no occupation, and subsequent tent city full of agitators and professional protesters threatening students and disrupting school, and the protesters got to be arrested/herded/chastised by "fascists", thereby stoking their ego, burnishing their brand, and establishing their cred. Win:Win

This is an interesting article dealing with the predicament Universities find themselves in:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/campus-left-university-columbia-1968/678176/

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Posted
55 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

When both state law and UT policy set "time place and manner" restrictions that functionally make all public areas of the university open for protest, then there really weren't any such restrictions in play here.  Greg Abbott cheered like hell when he signed a law in 2019 having that EXACT effect.  But now, he is telling us he didn't mean it.  Because....

....these actions were not content neutral.  How do we know that?  The governor who issued the orders to the DPS said, in a published statement, that it was based on the CONTENT of the protesters' positions.

This was a shitshow clusterfuck fascism jerkoff session, from start to finish.

And as may have been mentioned, Abbott was on the Texas Supreme Court, was Texas Attorney General, and is now Governor.  Abbott’s background shows he knows full well what word games he is playing.  He’s not some average schmuck that somehow stumbled his way into the Governor’s mansion.

Posted
32 minutes ago, royiv said:

For the fiscal conservatives and tough on crime crowd, how do you feel about the waste of money and resources on a performative demonstration by law enforcement? Do you think the money and resources could have been to better use in policing the greater Austin community?

The money and resources could have been used to help teach DPS how to respond to an active school shooter situation, or reinforce previous lessons.

25 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

You can't say, no harm, no foul after you've disrupted someone's right to free speech. That moment is lost forever. And, despite your minimizing of the difficulties the protesters suffered, the threat of future action is most certainly designed to have a chilling effect on their desire to participate in free speech later on. If there is any chance that actions like this will make anyone less likely to exercise their rights, then it absolutely is a big deal and must be dealt with and prevented from happening again. 

The fact that the law enforcement left en masse at a certain point yesterday and people came back to the same areas and there was no problem showed that this was not the big bogeyman that they claimed.  If it was what the Powers That Be claimed it was, law enforcement should not have left, as clearly the protestors would have taken over the entire campus.  Yet, that didn’t happen and was never going to happen based on videos before shit went down yesterday.

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Posted
3 minutes ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

 

Looks like they weren't going to allow an "occupation" like what's happening at Columbia, USC, Stanford, etc; and as was promised by the "UT Palestine solidarity committee":

https://thetexan.news/texas-local-news/ut-austin-palestine-solidarity-committee-plans-student-walk-out-occupation-of-campus/article_9b7c33b0-0257-11ef-9fcd-7724fc01bfbb.html

 

 

All things considered, I think it went well, with no injuries, deaths, or horrible videos for folks to fixate on. There was no occupation, and subsequent tent city full of agitators and professional protesters threatening students and disrupting school, and the protesters got to be arrested/herded/chastised by "fascists", thereby stoking their ego, burnishing their brand, and establishing their cred. Win:Win

This is an interesting article dealing with the predicament Universities find themselves in:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/campus-left-university-columbia-1968/678176/

It seems the smart move is to limit gathering sizes to below 40 and limit the space for gathering and times of gatherings and require prior approval by the school. Anything beyond the ordinary in scope needs to be done off campus. Let them be the city's problem.

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Posted
2 hours ago, Skipper said:

LOL.  Newsflash.  90%+ of alumni and donors don't give a fuck about the West Mall and whatever flavor of the month protest is in the news even if this was mishandled.  Most of us saw it and rolled our eyes every time we walked past when we were on campus.  Hartzell and Eltife paved the way to the SEC and a competitive football team.  They have kept UT a respectable institution of higher learning for those that want to get educated and get a good job.  They are golden.   

 

"but ya fuck one goat"

Posted
1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

WTF?

Even in my younger, more conservative days, when I walked by any number of hippies, activists, and dipshits with their pet issues ("marijuana is great!  We should legalize it because you can make rope with it, not because you can smoke it!"  Well then, why are you constantly baked, Moonbeam?  Just be honest with us.  And of course, "The Shanty."  And all that shit)....not only did it not occur to me that I should be pissed at them and want them beaten, seeing the cops beat them would have made me ripshit pissed.

Because I guess I'm one of those rare folks who 1) says he believes in the Constitution, and 2) ACTUALLY believes in the Constitution.

Fascinating to me how all the "freedom and liberty" types are....totally fucking opposed to some of our most foundational freedoms and liberties.

Now contrast that with those that go to church but then ignore the messages of love and humanity from Jesus and go straight to oppressing the shit out of anybody different than them.    

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Posted
3 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

The fact that the law enforcement left en masse at a certain point yesterday and people came back to the same areas and there was no problem showed that this was not the big bogeyman that they claimed.  If it was what the Powers That Be claimed it was, law enforcement should not have left, as clearly the protestors would have taken over the entire campus.  Yet, that didn’t happen and was never going to happen based on videos before shit went down yesterday.

 

Assuming the "occupations" were wholly organic, and that the Texas one would actually be in good faith and peaceful, is naive. Now that it's been cleared out once, I think we'll hopefully see any subsequent gatherings to be less rowdy and confrontationally framed.

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Posted

It was completely inappropriate for an armed/militarized force to have marched on foot across campus arresting innocent people who were peacefully gathered. 

They could have arrived on paraglider instead. 

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Posted
1 minute ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

 

Assuming the "occupations" were wholly organic, and that the Texas one would actually be in good faith and peaceful, is naive. Now that it's been cleared out once, I think we'll hopefully see any subsequent gatherings to be less rowdy and confrontationally framed.

I've seen rowdier knitting circles than yesterday's protest.

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Posted
1 minute ago, hayden_horn said:

they had yellow vested fucking wardens for christ sake

It feels like a whole lot of posters who are commenting today didn't watch any of the videos that were posted yesterday. Or, if they did, they're intentionally gaslighting the board.

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Posted (edited)
8 hours ago, Js1 said:

Weird that these protests don't get defended as much as the peaceful demonstration 3 years ago in DC

Maybe the students should have pushed past the barricades, broken some windows in the Tower, gotten into Hartzell's office and put their feet up on his desk, stolen some shit from the Tower and threatened to hang Sharon Wood

Bonus points if they beat some police officers with flag poles

This.

A "peaceful" protest, the end result of which was the US Capitol was taken over by a violent mob that assaulted uniformed police officers, and openly sought to apprehend elected government officials.

6 hours ago, Frank Drebin said:

The school has time, place and manner restrictions they intend to enforce.  If a group violates lawful time, place, and manner restrictions, they should be arrested/dispersed.  No matter who the group is.

President Hartzell has explained that he isn’t going to allow them to take over areas that aren’t for protests. Nor should he.

I read the letter from Texas.  It pretty clearly states the manner in which the protests were being conducted violated UT's free speech policies.  UT thus called in authorities.  

The protesters clearly stated (and published) their intent to occupy the campus.  

They were not going to let them take over the university.

These is a place for everything. Not every place is for everything.

6 hours ago, Dahobbs said:

 The protesters weren't violent. They weren't destructive. They weren't threatening. At least, I have not see any evidence of that. 

Isn't that what witnesses say before things went to shit?  It happens somewhere damn near every day.

6 hours ago, Incredulity said:

You know exactly what I am talking about.  For the last 6 months Jewish students have been routinely harassed and chased on several campuses across the country.  Its fucking wrong.

Kids in flip flops protesting? Who cares.

Masked people with backpacks protesting? hummm? What's up with that?

A large group, students and masked individuals, protesting "against" the most persecuted group of people in the history of the world? Prudent to err on the side of caution.

6 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

This stuff exploded across the nation.  There have absolutely been some vile anti-Semitic activities that went beyond the pale on college campuses. And it seems like that got conflated to what was planned at UT, which was just speech, and that probably exploited by bad-faith actors who deliberately wanted to confuse the matter and posture as hard asses. 

5 hours ago, Nivek said:

UT's pro-Palestinian protest was a MODEL protest.   Unlike some of the others happening elsewhere or other incidents where people were harmed, threatened, and harassed ...

You can say that, after the fact. No way you could guarantee that before it happened.

Charles Whitman was a MODEL citizen, until he "occupied" the UT Tower and killed and wounded almost 50 people. 

5 hours ago, Js1 said:

Of course Blacklab ... will ignore the obvious threadshitting 

Blacklab is moderating a message board. Give him a fucking break.

This is a volatile topic that is not borderline CR, it is very much right down the middle CR. Take the CR to the CR, and have at it. Most of the posts here are inflammatory rhetoric, not factual information.

Blacklab has deleted my posts that I knew were too heavy CR, and they should have been deleted. I posted them knowing that, I exercised my rights, and Blacklab did the same.

5 hours ago, YGIFS said:

You live long enough, you see everything turned on its head.  This is a horrible black eye on the University.  

I repectfully disagree.  

Allowing unlawful assemblies of large groups of people, students or otherwise, is putting people and property at risk.

Was the protest peaceful? Yes.

Was there a significant probability it might not be peaceful? Yes, given what has transpired across the country the past few months.

Does the UTPD have adequate resources to "control" the number of people that gathered? IDK, but I'm betting they don't. (One would thing the US Government could protect the Capitol, who knew?)

Could this unlawful protest have gone off the rails and become more unlawful to the detriment of all involved? Absolutely.

Allowing an unlawful assembly with the potential to take over the university, shut it down, and reduce it to an online educational platform is unacceptable. That is one step removed from just shutting down the university.

People protest, get arrested, get released. Some cheer, and others complain. No biggie.

The only difference is people bring guns and bombs with them now.

Edited by PTINS
typo. text.
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Posted
9 hours ago, SubliminalHorn said:

Oh no! Not intimidation chants! 

The type of people who yesterday characterized anodyne speech they didnt like as “racist coded dogwhistles” are today dismissing speech they like as mere “intimidation chants”. 

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Posted
35 minutes ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

All things considered, I think it went well, with no injuries, deaths, or horrible videos for folks to fixate on. There was no occupation, and subsequent tent city full of agitators and professional protesters threatening students and disrupting school, and the protesters got to be arrested/herded/chastised by "fascists", thereby stoking their ego, burnishing their brand, and establishing their cred. Win:Win

 

Dude, there were organizers wearing yellow high-viz vests that were working with the cops before they went aggroid and started teakettling and arresting students and journalists.

There was not an """occupation""" going on or imminent, no matter how much you or abbott repeat it. 

 

You and sack and incredulity and everyone else taking the governor at his word need to actually watch some of the reporting and footage from the event.

 

It is not as you are so desperately describing. 

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Posted (edited)
6 hours ago, Incredulity said:

staggering lack of self awareness is staggering.

 

Protests are fine.

Intimidation of groups of people is dead fucking wrong.  fuck you and anyone who allows situations like Cooper Union, the literal harassing intimidation of others.

 

And NO there is not evidence I have seen that harassing intimidation happened at UT yesterday.

You have the gay so you should know that it is wrong to intimidate groups, @SubliminalHorn, you bastid for not being sensitive to the unharrassed Jewish students that danced happily and wore the Israeli flag with no one fucking with them. Jerk!

Edited by burntorangebongos
Posted
2 hours ago, Skipper said:

LOL.  Newsflash.  90%+ of alumni and donors don't give a fuck about the West Mall and whatever flavor of the month protest is in the news even if this was mishandled.  Most of us saw it and rolled our eyes every time we walked past when we were on campus.  Hartzell and Eltife paved the way to the SEC and a competitive football team.  They have kept UT a respectable institution of higher learning for those that want to get educated and get a good job.  They are golden.   

 

 

This is 100% garbage. I might not care much about the protests themselves. But I see IN BOSTON news images of DPS busting up students that by all accounts were protesting peacefully. You better damn well believe that gets a lot more attention from everyone.

The fact that the Hartzell and others at Texas signed off on this is garbage and an embarassment to Texas.

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Posted
3 minutes ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Would love more information on how they established intent. 

News cameramen are a blight and should be barred from campus.

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Posted
34 minutes ago, Rex Kramer said:

I understand what you’re saying. We still do not know what happened behind the scenes (though I’ll reiterate it appears police were unnecessarily heavy handed). And my perspective is certainly shaped by age. Despite that all you say above is true, life isn’t fair, and everyone arrested should be able to get over it. 

Oh, fuck off.  I'm older than you and I think Abbott, Hartzell, Eltife and the gang are wannabe authoritarians that boot-lickers like you jizz over every night.

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Posted
7 hours ago, Frank Drebin said:

Do UT's time, place, and manner restrictions violate the constitution?  I honestly do not know. 

What was even the point of going to law school if you're not going to pretend you know everything there is to know about ConLaw on a messageboard? Seems like a waste of money to me.

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Posted (edited)
29 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Dude, there were organizers wearing yellow high-viz vests that were working with the cops before they went aggroid and started teakettling and arresting students and journalists.

There was not an """occupation""" going on or imminent, no matter how much you or abbott repeat it. 

 

You and sack and incredulity and everyone else taking the governor at his word need to actually watch some of the reporting and footage from the event.

 

It is not as you are so desperately describing. 

27 minutes ago, Hank Kingsley said:

Would love more information on how they established intent. 

 

They took them at their word, and because of their previous actions at Columbia, USC, etc. Here is the instagram post announcing the "occupation":

"Reclaim our space"

"Class is canceled"

"Occupy the lawn"

"In the footsteps of our comrades at Columbia SJP, Rutgers-New Brunswick, Yale, and countless others across the nation, we will be establishing THE POPULAR UNIVERSITY FOR GAZA and demanding our administration divest from death."

Watching what the "solidarity committees" did at Columbia and Yale, perhaps it was prudent to take them at their word. The fact that 26 of the arrestees weren't student, and were outside agitators, should be a clue.

Edited by MagicSoccerSpray
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Posted
45 minutes ago, Nivek said:

Now contrast that with those that go to church but then ignore the messages of love and humanity from Jesus and go straight to oppressing the shit out of anybody different than them.    

Insert "they're the same picture" meme here.

31 minutes ago, PTINS said:

This.

A "peaceful" protest, the end result of which was the US Capitol was taken over by a violent mob that assaulted uniformed police officers, and openly sought to apprehend elected government officials.

These is a place for everything. Not every place is for everything.

Isn't that what witnesses say before things went to shit?  It happens somewhere damn near every day.

Kids in flip flops protesting? Who cares.

Masked people with backpacks protesting? hummm? What's up with that?

A large group, students and masked individuals, protesting "against" the most persecuted group of people in the history of the world? Prudent to err on the side of caution.

You can say that, after the fact. No way you could guarantee that before it happened.

Charles Whitman was a MODEL citizen, until he "occupied" the UT Tower and killed and wounded almost 50 people. 

Blacklab is moderating a message board. Give him a fucking break.

This is a volatile topic that is not borderline CR, it is very much right down the middle CR. Take the CR to the CR, and have at it. Most of the posts here are inflammatory rhetoric, not factual information.

Blacklab has deleted my posts that I knew were too heavy CR, and they should have been deleted. I posted them knowing that, I exercised my rights, and Blacklab did the same.

I repectfully disagree.  

Allowing unlawful assemblies of large groups of people, students or otherwise, is putting people and property at risk.

Was the protest peaceful? Yes.

Was there a significant probability it might not be peaceful? Yes, given what has transpired across the country the past few months.

Does the UTPD have adequate resources to "control" the number of people that gathered? IDK, but I'm betting they don't. (One would thing the US Government could protect the Capitol, who knew?)

Could this unlawful protest have gone off the rails and become more unlawful to the detriment of all involved? Absolutely.

Allowing an unlawful assembly with the potential to take over the university, shut it down, and reduce it to an online educational platform is unacceptable. That is one step removed from just shutting down the university.

People protest, get arrested, get released. Some cheer, and others complain. No biggie.

The only difference is people bring guns and bombs with them now.

You literally just posted a screed advocating for prior restraint of speech based on what MIGHT happen.  I mean, even Walter fucking Sobchak knows that's bullshit.

3643aaff-1456-4e24-8434-937f4dbe49b1_tex

 

By your argument, we should not allow ANY Trump rallies because the one he held on January 6th turned violent, and he still uses violent rhetoric sometimes.  So, when he shows up around here, we're not gonna allow that lawless shitshow on OUR watch, nosiree!  We'll send an entire division of armored and armed DPS shock troops to break those likely hooligans up!  Right?

Fucking of course not.

The rights of free speech and freedom of assembly are the most misunderstood constitutional rights.

 

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Posted
24 minutes ago, PTINS said:

 

Charles Whitman was a MODEL citizen, until he "occupied" the UT Tower and killed and wounded almost 50 people. 

 

My wife came home yesterday to a man in the kitchen with a large knife and her kids nearby.   I guess she should have shot me for making dinner.    Moron.

Posted
7 minutes ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:

Watching what the "solidarity committees" did at Columbia and Yale, perhaps it was prudent to take them at their word. The fact that 26 of the arrestees weren't student, and were outside agitators, should be a clue.

Nothing of that sort was happening on Texas's campus yesterday. The jackboots came down hard because they wanted to flex and show how tough they were and that their fascist cred is legit. 

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Posted

It's always weird to see someone basically say how much they love the taste of boot leather. I'm not one for kink shaming but there's still some things people should probably keep to themselves. 

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Posted
1 minute ago, wildcat09 said:

It's always weird to see someone basically say how much they love the taste of boot leather. I'm not one for kink shaming but there's still some things people should probably keep to themselves. 

Yup, the authoritarians really do get off on this shit.  No CR.  Not really.  Oops.

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Posted
1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

Yup, the authoritarians really do get off on this shit.  No CR.  Not really.  Oops.

Man, what a weird time for Slorch to have ejected himself from this website. He’d be all over this boot licking 

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Posted
3 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

Except, you know, that is both unconstitutional and illegal under Texas law. 

Well, Abbott specifically signed a law MAKING such restrictions illegal under Texas law.

The problem is, yesterday, he made it clear that the applicability of that law depends on whether Abbott agrees with the content of the speech at issue.  Oopsie.

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Posted (edited)

nsiap ... Looks like Abbott is taking some heat from both sides of the aisle. Good to see.

Texas Gov. Abbott faces backlash after mass arrest at UT Austin pro-Palestine protest  https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4620838-texas-governor-abbott-backlash-mass-arrest-ut-austin-pro-palestine-protest/

Spoiler

 

Quote

After Texas state troopers arrested more than 50 people at a University of Texas at Austin protest this week, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is facing accusations that the state went too far.

Police in riot gear broke up an unsanctioned but nonviolent demonstration at the state’s flagship university Wednesday.

Among those arrested was a journalist with the local Fox 7 news affiliate, who has been charged with criminal trespassing, according to the news organization.

Demonstrators have scheduled a second day of protest for Thursday.

The students had called on UT to divest from arms manufacturers and U.S. and Israeli companies profiting off Israel’s war in Gaza. The university endowment has an estimated $52.5 million invested with arms manufacturers.

Students and off-campus supporters began to gather before noon in a protest the university forbade them to hold. They chanted slogans such as, “Free, free Palestine. Killing children is a crime,” according to Texas Public Radio.

Jews on campus were divided over whether this constituted an offensive act.

Texas Hillel, the Jewish student union, called the protests “hateful,” noting they took place on the second day of Passover, the Jewish festival of freedom.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, joined by fellow governors during a news conference. (Eric Gay / The Associated Press)

Others disagreed. “They’re not shouting anything antisemitic, they’re not harassing anyone, they’re standing on the green lawn, expressing themselves,” Jeremi Suri, a Jewish UT-Austin history professor, told The Texas Tribune.

“The appropriate response would be to ask them to be contained in an area, let them stay on the grass and let them shout until they have no voices left,” Suri added.


Instead, Abbott called in the state troopers.

In a post Wednesday on the social platform X, Abbott declared the protests antisemitic and called for the university to expel students who participated. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), meanwhile, has made suppressing alleged campus antisemitism a key priority for next year’s legislative session.

“Today, Greg Abbott’s [Department of Public Safety] has more courage to arrest peaceful student protesters than when an active shooter entered an elementary school in Uvalde,” state Democrats wrote in a statement Wednesday evening.


The party called the crackdown an Abbott “campaign ad.”

A Democratic state representative from Austin called the response “out of hand.” 

“In normal times when I was a student I was in a ‘sit in’ [with the Rev. Jesse Jackson] INSIDE the actual UT law school and administration just ignored us,” state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, (D-Austin), wrote on X.


A group of UT professors issued a statement condemning university president Jay Hartzell’s decision to call in the police.

The administrators noted the event “was to have included teach-ins, study sessions, pizza, and an art workshop. There was no threat of violence, no plan to disrupt classes, no intimidation of the campus community.”

In response, they wrote, “we have 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.”


Local journalists decried the arrest of the Fox photographer.

“If he’s guilty of criminal trespass, then I am too, as are a dozen other credentialed, on-the-clock journalists who were peacefully recording on a public lawn,” Ryan Chandler of KXAN wrote on X.

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Similar criticism came from libertarian and right-wing groups that previously supported Abbott’s campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs — which the state government had called anti-free speech.


“Sending in a phalanx of law enforcement threatens protected speech where it should be at its most free: a public university like UT Austin,” Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) legal director Will Creeley wrote after the arrests.

FIRE, a longtime critic of DEI, said Abbott’s use of police to break up the demonstration “makes his disregard for the First Amendment’s protection of political speech clear.”

The crackdown followed Abbott’s controversial March executive order that critics characterized as a reversal of sweeping free-speech protections he signed into law in 2019. 

In March, the governor signed an executive order directing universities to change their free speech policies to properly punish antisemitic speech — a category state Republican leadership applies to criticism of the war in Gaza.

“I am committed to the fight against antisemitism on campus, but I am concerned about the highlighted provisions in Governor Abbott’s executive order,” right-wing activist Chris Rufo of the Manhattan Institute, who has been a longtime critic of DEI, safe spaces and pro-Palestine campus protests, wrote at the time.

“How is such a policy different from DEI programs promising to prohibit ‘anti-black speech’? And why not include ‘anti-white speech,’ which, as I have shown in my reporting, is institutionalized at University of Texas?” Rufo asked.

Writers at the far-right magazine The Federalist called Abbott’s March executive order an endorsement of “the DEI cult” with its “demands for Jewish safe spaces.”

Muslim students told the press the university hasn’t protected them from abuse and assault on campus.

Earlier this month, three men assaulted a Muslim student wearing traditional dress while mocking him in “fake Arabic,” according to a complaint filed by the Council of American-Islamic Relations.

Texas Republican leadership has long combined dogged support for Israel’s right-wing government with a more complicated relationship with antisemitic groups on the state’s far right.

Last year, a leading state PAC aligned with state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) changed its name and fired its director after video surfaced of him meeting with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, a vocal fan of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and a proponent of a “holy war” against Jews.

After the video came to light, Republican recipients of the PAC’s donations in the state Legislature countered criticisms and calls to donate the funds by espousing their support for Israel, as The Hill reported.

Patrick, for example, received $3 million from the PAC in the lead-up to the 2023 impeachment of Paxton, one of his allies.

In the face of criticism over the donation, Patrick announced he would use it to buy Israeli bonds.

In December, the state Republican committee voted 39-32 to continue permitting members to meet with groups “known to espouse or tolerate antisemitism, pro-Nazi sympathies or Holocaust denial,” stripping a clause that would have banned such meetings from a statement of support for Israel, according to The Texas Tribune.

Half the board also voted not to keep any record of that vote. 

In voting down a measure that would have restricted such meetings, members raised concerns about free speech. A ban on such meetings was reminiscent of “Marxist” tactics, members said. 

Banning them “could put you on a slippery slope,” committee member Dan Tully told the Tribune.

In the aftermath of Wednesday’s arrests, a local journalist with the left-wing Texas Observer called out the apparent contradiction between the state’s broader response to antisemitic speech and its crackdown on the college demonstrations.

“I’ve seen no credible reporting of actual antisemitic incidents at the UT Austin protest,” Steven Monacelli wrote on X.

“What I can tell you is that I’ve reported on numerous neo-Nazi events and Greg Abbott never once tried to put any of them in jail.”

 

 

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