Leftist Texas students to protest defunding of DEI initiatives
The protest will take place on campus at the Greg Gym Plaza and will directly protest Texas House Bill 1006.
Austin SDS also mentioned similar efforts to defund DEI in Florida.
The Austin Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), a leftist activist organization, will protest the Texas State legislature, Governor Abbot, and the University of Texas Board of Regent’s recent efforts to defund diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives today.
The protest is set to take place on campus at UT Austin’s Greg Gym Plaza and will target Texas House Bill 1006 and “all attacks on diversity and multicultural programs.” Texas House Bill 1006, if passed, would prohibit “the funding, promotion, sponsorship, or support of ... any office of diversity, equity, and inclusion” at public universities in the state of Texas.
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In an email sent by Austin SDS and obtained by Campus Reform, the group states, “Come speak out against the attempts at deconstructing the DEI programs that help women, Black and Brown, LGBTQ, and poor and working folks attend college. More than that, let’s demand an expansion of these programs - we want more tenured Black and Brown faculty, and more funding for multicultural programs!”
In the email, Austin SDS also mentions similar efforts to defund DEI in Florida.
“The attacks on DEI programs didn’t start in Texas,” it reads, “the first strike was by Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida. While peacefully protesting the slashing of DEI programs, four SDS members at the University of South Florida were brutalized and arrested by police, and are currently facing felony charges.”
Campus Reform reported on the arrested USF SDS students, some of which were charged with assaulting police officers, and has reported on similar cases of universities recently ridding their campuses of DEI initiatives.
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Universities that have removed DEI initiatives that Campus Reform has reported on include The University of Missouri and The University of Houston.
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin SDS, and Texas Rep. Carl Tepper, who introduced Bill 1006, have not responded to comments requested by Campus Reform.
