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University of Texas students can expect a "near normal" fall semester this year.
The plan, sent to the Daily Texan via email from communications manager for the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost Kathleen Harrison, is to hold 91.7% of classes in person, 4.2% of classes in a hybrid format and the remaining 3.1% of classes will stay online.
The announcement is a stark increase from last fall, during which over 60% of classes were online, 24% were hybrid and only 16% were in-person. President Jay Hartzell said last month he expects the upcoming semester to look more similar to fall 2019 than fall 2020.
The new schedule is not set in stone—Harrison said UT will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation on campus and that safety of the community is a top priority.
"The University's decisions are based on the latest data and information available," Harrison said. "If conditions change, we will continue to keep the safety of our community a top priority and adjust as needed."
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UT sophomore Zion James spoke at the Capitol to demand the retirement of "The Eyes of Texas."
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to include coverage of the meeting.
Black lawmakers, civil rights leaders, students and alumni gathered at the Texas Capitol on Monday to urge The University of Texas once again to change its school song, "The Eyes of Texas," which has been under fire for racist origins since the Black Lives Matter movement over the summer.
The song, which debuted at a minstrel show and has lyrics traced back to Confederate leader Robert E. Lee, was analyzed by a 24-person committee to evaluate its meaning. After months, the committee ruled that the song had no "overtly racist" intent, resulting in UT keeping the alma mater.
At the Capitol on Monday, UT sophomore Zion James stood in the building overlooking Congress Avenue with the words "Black Lives Matter" painted on it and demanded the following from the school:
- Immediate retirement of "The Eyes of Texas"
- More financial aid and scholarships allocated to Black students
- More affordable housing
- Appointment of more Black professors and teacher's assistants
- Trainings on race, anti-racism and UT's racist history
- Transparency between UT administration and students
- All buildings named after people with racist histories be renamed for people who have worked to make the UT community more equitable
Speakers included President of the NAACP Gary Bledsoe, University of Texas history professor Alberto Martínez, State Representative Ron Reynolds and NAACP Houston President Bishop James Dixon. Martínez, who filed a lawsuit against the school for racial-related pay discrepancy, said he once enjoyed the song while he was a student before he knew the meaning behind it.
"To me, before I walked into this, the song was a song I sang. It's a song that I've enjoyed at the stadium," Martínez said. "I can understand how the people of Texas loved it. What I didn't know when I sang the song, was that the song was based (on racism)."
University of Texas history professor Alberto Martínez
Martínez mentioned how The University of Mississippi stopped playing its song, "Dixie," after the song's historical context was unearthed in 2016. Ole Miss said the change was made to create a more welcoming environment for all its students.
Martínez said if Ole Miss can change a song with similar roots, UT should not be daunted by the change.
"Why is UT so slow to change? UT does not have a democracy so certainly there was no poll of the faculty, there was no poll of the students, there was no poll of the athletes, there was no poll of the marching band," Martínez said. "Instead, mainly anonymous administrators represented by our president Jay Hartzell, decided that this song would stick."
Martínez worked on an independent analysis of the song's history for 15 days, during which time he said he found a number of things that were not in the original committee's report. The song was inspired by a quote from confederate general Robert E. Lee, was written the day minstrel shows started and played at shows that were intended for white people to mock Black people.
The 58-page report by the committee instead states that the history of the song reflects the history of the country at that time, and while the song was performed at a minstrel show in blackface, it was intended to "parody the famous phrases of the university president," rather than Lee.
Martínez questioned why he was not asked to be part of the committee. Students who testified at the news conference said they also did not feel they were represented in the committee. James said he was shocked but not surprised when he found out the song would stay while the committee was composed of "key players at UT."
"I did not see a lot of representation for us, I did not see our Black Student Alliance president on that council," James said. "It was just disheartening to see simply because the people who are fighting for this and have been the key people in this were not on that committee at all."
Longhorns band saxophone player Judson Hayden said many of his band peers are opposed to playing the song because the Black body is opposed. While an official statement from President Jay Hartzell said the students will have the option to sing the song, there were no directives given for the band or football players. Hayden said it is still up for discussion whether or not the song will be played in the fall.
Judson Hayden
The meeting was concluded with a message from Dixon, who said removing the song would be a huge step for the state of Texas.
"It's amazing that we're debating what's obvious... If the racist lyrics in this song were written in the reverse, they never would have made it to the light of day. They certainly would not be the mantra of an institution as grand as the University of Texas. What we're asking is not only common sense, but decency and consideration."
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With the team's first-ever Big 12 Conference title under its belt, UT men's basketball has secured a spot as the No. 3 seed in the first round of the upcoming 2021 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
Texas will face the East Region's No. 14 seed Abilene Christian, who are also conference champs, at 8:50 p.m. on Saturday.
This is the first time that UT has entered the tournament as a No. 3 seed or higher in over a decade and will be the team's 35th overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Longhorns have now made the sixth-most NCAA Tournament appearances in the country.
While Texas' conference-winning season has been historic, they'll face the Abilene Christian Wildcats, who defeated Southland Conference foe Nicholls State in a blowout for their first-ever conference title this season. ACU has made only one other appearance in the national championship since they moved up to Division I in 2017.
Texas is coming off of a 91-86 win over Oklahoma State that saw the team ramp up its momentum to a five-game win streak. With leadership from senior guard Matt Coleman II, who scored a career-high 30 points in his final Big 12 performance, the team was able to keep the lead for the entire second half and secure their first championship win.
While Abilene Christian will need to watch out for Coleman and formidable senior forward Jericho Sims, Texas can't keep its guard down against the ultimate underdogs that have made themselves known as a threatening mid-major team.
Clocking in at seven feet tall, ACU's Kolton Kohl will keep a 6'10 Sims plenty busy in the paint, while a Wildcat defense that holds the most turnovers per game in the nation (20.26) is sure to keep the entire Longhorn offense on their toes.
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After coming under fire for a racist history, the controversial University of Texas alma mater "The Eyes of Texas" will remain the school song after a committee review found no racist intent, according to a report released Tuesday.
Students and some alumni have stood firm in their position that the song has a racist history, pointing to certain lyrics and the song's use at a minstrel show over 100 years ago. Issues with the song came after a summer of Black Lives Matter protests heightened social tensions—and were accompanied by demands for other changes, such as renaming UT buildings with Confederate namesakes. This led to hundreds refusing to sing the alma mater at football games, football players leaving the field during the playing of the song and even the band opting out of playing it in the stands this past season.
The song has created a division between the UT community, as hundreds of alumni and university donors sent emails to UT President Jay Hartzell demanding the song remain in place, The Texas Tribune reported last week.
In recent months, a committee made up of 24 faculty members, athletes, band members and alumni reviewed the song for its origins and use over the years and have since released a 58-page report. The report states that the history of the song reflects the history of the country at that time, and while the song was performed at a minstrel show in blackface, it was intended to "parody the famous phrases of the university president."
In summary, the committee wrote, "Research by the committee has uncovered important facts and historical context, some of which have never been systematically compiled and analyzed until now ... These facts add nuance and richness to the story of a song debuted in a racist setting, common for the time, but, the research shows, was intended to parody the famous phrases of the university president."
The report states that "the eyes of Texas are upon you" phrase drew inspiration from a favorite phrase of then-UT president William Prather. The controversial lyrics were believed to be drawn from a quote often repeated by leader of the Confederate army, Robert E. Lee: "The eyes of the south are upon you."
The Eyes of Texas are upon you,
All the livelong day.
The Eyes of Texas are upon you,
You cannot get away.
Do not think you can escape them
At night or early in the morn.
The Eyes of Texas are upon you
'Til Gabriel blows his horn.
But the committee found the song lyrics to have no connection to Lee. The committee also found the phrase "the eyes of ___________ are upon you" was often used before 1903.
And moving through the other lyrics, the report states that the words' meaning, which some associated with slaves escaping, is about elders having a watchful eye on students of the university.
Along with pages on various aspects of the song, the report offers 40 recommendations for healing from the history of the alma mater in a constructive way. View on page 9 here.
While the song is to stay, changes that did or are in the process of taking place on campus include:
- Renaming the Robert L. Moore building, one of several buildings that students have long protested for being named after an outspoken segregationist. Other protested buildings and landmarks, such as Littlefield Fountain and the statue of Texas Gov. Jim Hogg, will remain on campus.
- Renaming Joe Jamail Field in honor of Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams—two "Longhorn legends"—at "the suggestion of the Jamail family."
- Adding a display and statue of Herman Sweatt to the T.S. Painter Hall. Painter, a university president, denied Sweatt admittance to UT's law school and the case went to the Supreme Court, where Painter lost.
- Adding a statue for Julius Whittier, UT's first Black football player.
"My hope is that we can sing it together, mindful of our university's past and proud of the progress we've made since the 19th century."
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