UT Regents Chairman responds to campus protests

TYLER — In a confrontation between police and protesters at UT Austin late Monday, 79 people involved were jailed, according to the Travis County sheriff’s department. Most were charged with criminal trespass. About 150 protesters sat on the ground as state troopers and police encircled them, with hundreds of others shouting when officers dragged someone away. After police cleared the original group of demonstrators, hundreds of students and protesters ran to block officers from leaving campus. Protesters pushed in on officers, creating a mass of shoving bodies before police used pepper spray and set off flash-bang devices to clear a path for a van to take those arrested off campus.

The University of Texas System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin P. Eltife Tuesday released the following statement:

“As I have previously stated, any attempt to shut down or disrupt UT operations will not be tolerated. There is no rationale whatsoever that justifies the endangerment of our students and campus environments. Massive crowds of students, along with outside groups with absolutely no connection to UT, have intentionally caused disturbances with plans to harm our campus community. In fact, the majority of arrests to date have occurred with agitators who are not UT students. These activities will not be allowed.

While free speech is fundamental to our educational institutions, it is violated when it includes threats to campus safety and security or refusal to comply with institutional policies and law. At UT Austin, I have been working closely with President Hartzell on decisions to protect its entire campus community, and we will not acquiesce on those protections under any circumstance.

I appreciate our campus police officers and we cannot thank the Texas Department of Public Safety enough for all their assistance. We will continue to call upon the DPS to secure our campus when needed. Moreover, we will make every effort to see that students who violate campus policies and outside individuals and groups that violate state law are fully prosecuted.

Nothing is more important than the safety of our students, and we will not hesitate again to use all resources available to us to keep them safe and our UT campuses open.”