UT athletes push to get rid of ‘The Eyes of Texas’
AUSTIN — University of Texas athletes called Friday for changes in how the school supports black students on campus.
On social media, athletes asked for the renaming of buildings and creating freshman discussion groups on the history of racism on campus. And they called for replacing the school song, “The Eyes of Texas,” which has ties to minstrel shows and was created during segregation.
The players said they would continue to work out and play for the school but would not help recruit athletes or appear at donor events until the university officially commits to change.
The Longhorns’ football team marched to the state Capitol last week in response to the Black Lives Matter protests that erupted nationwide after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
Texas head coach Tom Herman, who marched alongside players, said it was a precursor to something bigger.
“I do know that our team is committed to making sure that that is not the last time that you will see Texas football out on the forefront of changing the landscape and system of our society as best we can,” Herman said. “And they are committed to it — hook, line and sinker.”
The athletes’ collective cry Friday was the university’s own motto: “What starts here changes the world. #WeAreOne.”
“The recent events across the country regarding racial injustice have brought to light the systemic racism that has always been prevalent in our country as well as the racism that has historically plagued our campus,” the athletes’ statement said.
“We aim to hold the athletic department and university to a higher standard by not only asking them to keep their promise of condemning racism on our campus,
but to go beyond this by taking action to make Texas more comfortable and inclusive for the black athletes and black community that has so fervently supported this program,” the statement continued.
‘Meaningful conversations’
The most controversial of the letter’s demands was for Texas to stop using “The Eyes of Texas.” The song is sung at nearly every organized campus event, and players in all sports gather as a team to sing it after every game. The athletes asked not to be required to stand as it is played.
The letter also asked to rename several campus buildings named after state and school officials, including Robert Lee Moore and Theophilus Painter, both of whom have ties to the Texas era of Jim Crow laws and segregation.
The players also want the university’s athletics department to contribute 0.5 percent of its annual revenue — more than $1 million —
to black organizations and the Black Lives Matter movement. The group also asks that an area of Royal-Memorial Stadium be named after Julius Whittier, the first black football player at Texas.
Through a tweet responding to the students’ list of demands, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte said he is “willing to have meaningful conversations regarding any concerns our student-athletes have.”
“We are aware of three petitions created by students and look forward to working with them and the UT community to create the best possible experience on our campus for Black students,” university spokesman J.B. Bird said in an email.
“The athletes coming out in the way that they have will bring the campus community closer together than it has been before,” said Edmund T. Gordon, an associate professor of African and African diaspora studies and the university’s vice provost for diversity.
“Athletics and the academic side of the university have been pretty separate over the years with a fair amount of resentment between all sides, and I think the athletes showing this kind of interest in
moving forward is very impressive for both faculty and other students. I think this is a moment of folks coming together in interesting kinds of ways.”
Change at Clemson
Texas is hardly the only college campus dotted by buildings and statues commemorating historically racist figures.
After pressure from former football players, including Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins, Clemson University trustees voted Friday to rename its honors college, stripping away the name of former Vice President John C. Calhoun, a slavery proponent.
Moore was a longtime mathematics teacher at UT. He was also an avowed segregationist who refused to teach the few black students who were admitted in the years after Brown v. Board of Education.
