<\/p>\n
Students and guests attend an event hosted by the University of Texas chapter of Turning Point USA on campus in Austin, Monday, Nov. 3, 2025.<\/p>\n
Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
This summer, the University of Texas president\u2019s office<\/a> reserved the school\u2019s Lady Bird Johnson Auditorium, Bass Lecture Hall, nearby rooms\u00a0and lobbies for an unnamed all-day event\u00a0on Oct. 7.\u00a0<\/p>\n That event, students discovered this week, is an address from conservative commentator Ben Shapiro<\/a>, hosted by UT\u2019s Turning Point USA chapter.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n US conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro speaks during Turning Point’s annual AmericaFest conference in remembrance of late right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk, in Phoenix, Arizona on December 18, 2025. (Photo by Olivier Touron \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n OLIVIER TOURON\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n On Wednesday evening, Shapiro\u00a0\u2014 who co-founded The Daily Wire and has been criticized for his comments on race and gender\u00a0\u2014 will address the 967-seat auditorium in the university\u2019s public affairs school. The event is part of\u00a0Turning Point USA\u2019s \u00a0\u201cAmerica: Love it or Leave it\u201d tour<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 a fall series at universities across the country focused on promoting patriotism.\u00a0<\/p>\n As of Tuesday afternoon, the\u00a0department sponsor for the event was listed\u00a0as the UT president\u2019s office and LBJ Library, according to an online reservations document obtained by the Austin American-Statesman.\u00a0After the Statesman asked UT about the reservation, the document was changed on Wednesday to identify the event as \u201cTurning Point USA\u00a0\u2014 Ben Shapiro\u201d and the\u00a0sponsor as the\u00a0Thompson Conference Center, which manages the auditorium.\u00a0<\/p>\n Casey Murphy, a spokesperson for the LBJ Library, said the library must have been listed accidentally, as \u201cneither the LBJ Library nor the LBJ Foundation are hosting or sponsoring the event.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The Texas Student Experience office, which oversees student groups, consulted events staff in the president\u2019s office about where the Shapiro talk should be located because of security concerns and a large anticipated crowd size, UT spokesperson Mike Rosen said. The president\u2019s office has experience hosting high-security events, such as an April talk by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.<\/a><\/p>\n Last September, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated at a campus event in Utah, sparking fear and security concerns over chapter events nationwide.<\/p>\n \u201cSafety is always our highest priority,” Rosen said. “Turning Point obviously has heightened safety concerns. Staff who normally work with the student organizations hosting guest speakers rightfully sought the advice and assistance of events staff who have expertise with venue selection.”<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The University of Texas System Board of Regents, which has ultimate authority over the venue<\/a>, has a policy stating programs in the LBJ auditorium \u201cmust be educational in content, non-profit, and free of political, religious, or sales activity.\u201d All student events held at the venue require sponsorship by an academic dean or executive officer, but being sponsored by the president\u2019s office gives events \u201cscheduling priority,\u201d according to a publicly available scheduling form.<\/a><\/p>\n Less than three weeks after the president\u2019s office\u00a0reserved the space, UT\u2019s chapter of Turning Point USA announced in on\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0that the \u201cUniversity of Texas is hosting the America Love It or Leave It Tour October 7th!!!\u201d The initial post did not mention a location for the event.<\/p>\n UT\u2019s chapter of Turning Point USA declined to comment.<\/p>\n The president\u2019s office\u2019s reservation of this space comes as some students and faculty have raised\u00a0concerns over UT leadership increasing its influence over events on campus, seemingly favoring conservative speech and sidelining liberal groups, despite the university\u2019s pledge to\u00a0uphold institutional neutrality.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Last month, University Democrats struggled to find an appropriate venue<\/a> to host leftist streamer Hasan Piker<\/a> after the group\u2019s initial location presented space and security concerns. A UT official in charge of the LBJ auditorium told the Democratic student group that the only way to get approval for a political event was through a UT department, college or school sponsorship. The official said that the group needed ultimate approval by university leadership, according to emails sent to organization president Adit Raha.<\/p>\n Murphy said the LBJ auditorium is owned and managed by the Thompson Conference Center and is available for student groups to rent. The LBJ Auditorium has hosted\u00a0everything from graduations to talks with American presidents and comedian Kate\u00a0McKinnon<\/a>, according to its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ella Barwick, a second-year master\u2019s student and student leader at the LBJ School who has dealt with reservations, said it is uncommon for the president\u2019s office to reserve a space in the auditorium or hold a space for a student group.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 12 other times the auditorium has been reserved this semester, reservations were made by the Thompson Conference Center or the LBJ Library Foundation, according to a review of the reservation document.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWe have never seen the president\u2019s office reserve a space,\u201d Barwick said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had very high caliber government or author-type people come in. That\u2019s all done through LBJ and through the various centers that work with us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Barwick emailed her concerns to interim LBJ School Dean Paul Pope and was told that the event was not sponsored or initiated by UT or the LBJ School.<\/p>\n As of this fall, students\u00a0must get dean-level approval for any speaker \u201cthat may be considered controversial in nature,\u201d according to the student events form for LBJ venues.<\/p>\n Cameron Samuels, an LBJ School master\u2019s student who hosted an event\u00a0called \u201cCensored University\u201d with journalist Nikole Hannah Jones in the Bass Lecture Hall this\u00a0March, said that rule had been updated since their\u00a0event took place.\u00a0Their event was required to secure a UT security officer after the dean\u2019s office became aware of the event partners and tone of the event, which was initially pitched as a talk on the future of education policy and civic leadership.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Political concerns<\/p>\n Since the spring, UT leadership has taken a greater role in campus events.\u00a0In multiple statements, officials have emphasized security concerns as the reason for their involvement, no matter the political nature of the events.\u00a0<\/p>\n Just before Austin\u2019s public radio station hosted\u00a0its inaugural community festival this spring, top UT leadership cancelled large swaths of the event over security concerns. U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey\u00a0spoke at the\u00a0LBJ auditorium as part of the event as other portions of the festival were forced off campus. At the time, KUT General Manager Debbie Hiott said UT\u2019s concerns were unfounded.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last month, University Democrats’ Raha worked for weeks to find a suitable location for his organization\u2019s event with Piker after a UT police official told him that hosting the talk at the planned venue raised safety concerns<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n After searching for alternatives and eventually paying $20,000 in security fees to Austin Police Department and UT\u2019s police department, the organization hosted Piker in the original planned location, the William C. Powers Auditorium. Raha condemned the university for not helping his group find another suitable on-campus venue for the Piker talk. He questioned whether the university would have responded differently for an event hosting a conservative speaker.<\/p>\n It is not clear if President Jim Davis played a role in his office assisting\u00a0UT\u2019s Turning Point USA chapter in booking a space for\u00a0Shapiro.<\/p>\n UT\u2019s dean of students typically oversees student organizations’ speaker request forms and events,<\/a> but as of this fall, the university no longer has a dean of students<\/a> or a stand-alone student affairs department. That division was consolidated with the admissions department into the new Texas Student Experience division.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n