![]() ![]() “The main objective of the administration and the campus is just to appease their wealthy donors so that they can continue to get that funding, and that they don’t really have our best interests at heart.” “As Black students, we kind of feel as if it’s not like our voices are heard,” Lawal said in an interview. Al-Nasser Lawal, a UT-Austin senior and president of the UT-Austin chapter of the NAACP, said Black student groups also met with administrators to discuss their concerns with the song without success. They decided to file the complaint because students said the campus climate surrounding the song had gotten increasingly tense throughout the spring semester. Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP, said the groups initially tried to work with university leaders to get them to do away with the song, but were unsuccessful. Some students also staged a walkout at graduation last spring when the song played. Last month, a group of students protested the song at an event welcoming new students to campus for the fall semester. We’re going to sing that proudly.”īut the complaint signals the continued desire among some students and alumni beyond the football stadium to push administrators to discontinue using the song as UT-Austin’s alma mater, despite the university’s insistence that it will remain. Football coach Steve Sarkisian said in January that “‘The Eyes of Texas’ is our school song. On Saturday, the band played the song and players stayed on the field for the postgame singalong tradition without a major issue. The debate touched many parts of the university community, from athletics and academics to fundraising and student organizations. A little over a year ago, a group of UT football players called for the school to discontinue using the song. The Longhorn Band plays the song, and those games have been where much of the controversy surrounding the song played out. This latest move by the local NAACP chapters came one day before the start of the football season. The department updates its list of investigations on a monthly basis. Department of Education spokesperson said it does not acknowledge complaints unless they have been accepted for investigation. UT-Austin did not respond to a request for comment. Students in the Longhorn band are required to play the song. This past spring, the UT-Austin Butler School of Music announced the creation of a new band in which students would not be required to play the song after members of the Longhorn Band refused to play it last fall due to its history and origins. The complaint, provided to The Texas Tribune by the filers, says the university has failed to respond to racial harassment against Black students and others who oppose the song, violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and argues the university’s decision to create a separate marching band for students who do not want to play “The Eyes of Texas” violates equal protections afforded under the Fourteenth Amendment. Despite pushback, university officials have said they are going to keep the song as their alma mater, concluding in a report issued earlier this year that the song “had no racist intent.” ![]() #EYES OF TEXAS LYRICS FULL#The complaint, filed Friday morning, alleges that Black students have been denied full benefits of Longhorn student life because the song is an official part of the university, “despite its racially offensive origin, context and meaning.” The song premiered at a minstrel show in the early 1900s where students likely wore blackface. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights alleging UT-Austin is creating a “hostile environment” for Black students by continuing to play the “The Eyes of Texas” alma mater song at university events. The Texas chapter of the NAACP, along with the civil rights organization’s University of Texas at Austin chapter and a group of anonymous students, has filed a complaint with the U.S. ![]() Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. ![]()
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