Dozens of students gathered in the Student Government Assembly room Tuesday evening to voice their concerns and suggest policy changes regarding the presence of a conservative podcaster on campus last week.<\/p>\n
Right-wing influencer Myron Gaines used multiple derogatory slurs in a debate outside Gregory Gym on the evening of Oct. 7. Gaines sat behind a banner that read \u201cThe Cornell 7 are innocent. Prove me wrong\u201d and his book \u201cWhy Women Deserve Less\u201d while debating students.<\/p>\n
The debate was his fourth stop in his \u201cToxic Masculinity\u201d tour with Uncensored America, an organization that believes \u201cuniversities should be spaces where all ideas\u2014especially those that are unpopular or debated\u2014can be expressed and critically examined without censorship,\u201d according to the UT chapter\u2019s HornsLink<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gaines was given a warning for slur usage by campus officials, according to a video<\/a> posted by Uncensored America.<\/p>\n \u201cThe school, which is federally funded, by the way, doesn\u2019t like me saying certain slurs,\u201d Gaines said. \u201cBut this is the United States of fucking America and we have a first amendment here, so I\u2019m gonna continue to use whichever slur I fucking want to use in this discourse.\u201d<\/p>\n The event was shut down 45 minutes before its scheduled end time. A UTPD officer told a member of Uncensored America that they were trespassing and would go to jail if the group remained on campus, according to the video.<\/p>\n The campus chapters of Students for a Democratic Society<\/a> and Black Student Alliance<\/a> posted statements criticizing how Gaines\u2019 event impacted student safety. Uncensored America reposted the Black Student Alliance\u2019s post with the text \u201cPound Sand\u201d to its Instagram story.<\/p>\n SG allocates time at their weekly public assemblies for an \u201copen forum,\u201d an opportunity for constituents to voice ideas and concerns to representatives. Six students spoke at the forum on Tuesday to condemn Gaines\u2019 speech and present policy ideas before time ran out.<\/p>\n Many of the speakers also criticized SG and University administration for allowing the event to happen and not issuing a statement afterward.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m disgusted by the lack of statements, the lack of outrage, the lack of press, the lack of defending of certain communities here at UT Austin,\u201d government junior Jamie Barrett said. \u201cThe racist, xenophobic attacks that happened here (are) not okay.\u201d<\/p>\n Speakers argued that Gaines\u2019 presence violated the University Catalog, specifically Sec. 13, which creates guidelines for speakers on campus. Approval for guest speakers on campus is only required for \u201cDedicated Areas<\/a>,\u201d which do not include Speedway or Gregory Gym. However, the catalog bars obscenity, harassment and discriminatory conduct from all speakers.<\/p>\n \u201cFree speech is not equivalent to hate speech,\u201d government freshman Anisa Abdullah said.<\/p>\n Students proposed multiple policy ideas to prevent events like this from happening again. Abdullah suggested an act to protect students that would limit certain speakers from being present on campus after 5:00 p.m. Psychology freshman Aaron Miller suggested that speakers who violate certain campus guidelines and are reported to the Dean of Students with signatures from students should not be allowed to speak.<\/p>\n \u201cFree speech is important, but so is accountability here at our institution,\u201d Barrett said.<\/p>\n The SG executive alliance thanked the audience for coming to share their concerns, and SG President Kiera Dixon called last week\u2019s events \u201chorrifying and disgusting.\u201d Vice President Jaden Watt, who is president of UT\u2019s chapter of the historically Black fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi, said the pair have spent the past week working on a solution to the issue.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is about whether UT will protect free expression while recognizing the unequal burden that racial hostility places on its Black students,\u201d said Kaitlin Boyce Johnson, an anthropology and African and African Diaspora Studies senior and president of the historically Black sorority Zeta Phi Beta. \u201cWe deserve a university that takes our experiences seriously and demonstrates that our education, safety and belonging matters.\u201d<\/p>\n