debated<\/a> students outside of Gregory Gym and used multiple derogatory terms and slurs in his arguments. The event was shut down by a UTPD officer but his comments drew widespread criticism from students who said the University should not have allowed Gaines to speak.\u00a0<\/p>\nIn the email, Davis wrote that the University will work with student leaders and take action on current policy based on feedback. The University declined to comment further on the prospective changes.<\/p>\n
Davis also wrote that the University does not have the ability to cancel a student group\u2019s event due to a speaker they bring \u201ceven when many and nearly all of us find the speech offensive and wrong,\u201d according to the email.<\/p>\n
The debate was in partnership with student organization Uncensored America, an organization \u201cfocused on promoting free speech, open debate, and the exchange of controversial or unpopular ideas on college campuses,\u201d according to the UT chapter\u2019s Hornslink. University policy allows groups to invite outside speakers to nondesignated areas, including Speedway and Gregory Gym.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs always, we will follow the law and do what it takes to keep you and the campus safe,\u201d Davis said. \u201cWe have no tolerance for behavior that breaks our rules or breaks the law, recognizing behavior and speech are not the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Davis\u2019 email, he said \u201coutsiders\u201d who have been on campus are allowed to speak, sometimes saying \u201cvile and abhorrent things,\u201d because they are invited by UT student groups. In the email, he also said student groups had the option to not invite certain speakers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t make the pain of experiencing offensive comments go away,\u201d Davis wrote in the email. \u201cI know this is easy to say and hard to do, but don\u2019t stop to listen. Don\u2019t stop to engage if you don\u2019t want to be part of it. Don\u2019t take the bait of someone seeking to provoke you. They don\u2019t define you, your character, or your place in the world and on your campus. These outsiders certain(l)y don\u2019t define UT.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UT President Jim Davis said the University is reviewing its policies on outside speakers, according to a Friday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-468499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}