UT students, faculty demand university president resign after protest response

AUSTIN (KXAN) — University of Texas at Austin faculty and staff led the charge during Thursday’s pro-Palestine protest on campus. Organizers called themselves the UT Austin Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine.

They held this protest in response to Wednesday’s, which ended in dozens of arrests.

LIVE UPDATES: Day 2 of protests begins, 57 people arrested day 1

“I’m a little disappointed to see that DPS showed up in riot gear. I think but for their presence, we would have had a completely peaceful demonstration,” said UT School of Journalism and Media Professor Amy Kristin Sanders.

Thursday, faculty spoke out against UT President Jay Hartzell for the heavy law enforcement presence.

“We demand that the students not face disciplinary action,” one faculty member said.

Calling for Hartzell’s resignation

Protestors even asked for Hartzell to resign as a result of Wednesday’s law enforcement response.

“Jay Hartzell has lost all trust,” protestors chanted.

Faculty with the American Association of University Professors passed out petitions asking for support to hold a vote of no-confidence in Hartzell.

In a statement released following the protest on Wednesday, Hartzell said, “The protesters tried to deliver on their stated intent to occupy campus. People not affiliated with UT joined them, and many ignored University officials’ continual pleas for restraint and to immediately disperse.”

Hartzell said the university was prepared, “with the necessary support to maintain campus operations and ensure the safety, well-being and learning environment for our more than 50,000 students.”

Will charges be dropped against UT Austin protesters?

The UT Faculty Council posted a message Thursday morning expressing disagreement with what they said was “President Hartzell’s decision to invite DPS officers, armed and in riot gear, onto the Forty Acres to disrupt a non-violent protest.”

The letter continued to say the council has been in touch with Hartzell and other members of the administration to express their concern over the “University’s decision to escalate matters by inviting DPS onto campus during yesterday’s protests.”

The council also said it asked Hartzell to lay out specific reasoning for that decision.

UT said in a statement Thursday that the university has had 13 pro-Palestinian free speech events since October that happened “largely without incident.” It said the difference was that organizers “sought to follow the playbook of the national campaign to paralyze the operations of universities across the country,” including breaking Institutional Rules and “occupying” the university.

KXAN crews at Thursday’s protest noted it was much calmer than the day before.

Ultimately, faculty said they wanted to show their support during a time when many students said they didn’t feel that from the university’s administration.

“I think it’s so important that on a university campus, particularly a public university campus, that our students have the right to make their voices heard, without fearing that the university or law enforcement will take action if they’re peaceably exercising those first amendment rights,” Sanders said.

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