The University of Texas spoke out after a media outlet published emails from angry donors with the players speaking out against the school’s song “Eyes of Texas”.
Monday, the Texas Tribune published emails from donors who wanted the school to continue playing music with racist roots. Black school players stood up against the continuation of the music and asked the school to reassess the players’ post-game participation in the music.
On Tuesday, Texas President Jay Hartzell said in a statement that emails with “hateful views” from some donors are not a representative sample of the school’s donor and alumni base. Here is Hartzell’s statement in full below:
“People who target our students with hateful views do not represent the values of the Longhorn community. Some extremist views in the sample of emails that the Texas Tribune reported do not speak for the 540,000 proud Longhorn alumni who actively support our students and the university. Of the many emails I received this fall, a very small number included really disgusting and hateful comments, I categorically reject them and they have no influence on any aspect of our decision making.
The fact that not everyone agrees with the school’s music does not mean that not everyone belongs to it. Next week, the Texas Eye History Committee will release its report. Equipped with a common set of facts, we will continue the conversation about our music. Having spoken with students and faculty on the committee, I truly believe that we can be a model for how communities deal with complex problems and move forward together.
In June, UT athletes asked the school to replace music because of its racist roots. It was first performed at a minstrel show in 1900 and was derived from a phrase said by former Confederate general Robert E. Lee.
Some emails drove players’ activism
The Tribune obtained approximately 300 emails from former students to Hartzell from June to October about the song. A significant majority of these emails wanted to keep the music in place. And some of that majority used incendiary language in their emails.
One donor wrote that the school needed its rich contributors “more than they need a crop of irresponsible, uniformed students or teachers who will not do what they are paid to do”. Another wrote that the school should put its foot down and “make it perfectly clear that the Texas heritage will not be lost.”
The problem has been one of the biggest at the university in the past nine months, as the school band has not played the song in the last two home games of the season. Instead, the music was played over the speakers while the school remained committed to its post-game ritual.
New Texas coach Steve Sarkisian was asked about the place of music in school at his introductory press conference in January. Sarkisian said his team would be “excited” to sing the song in 2021.
What the committee is doing
The Texas Eye History Committee mentioned in Hartzell’s statement above was formed by the school in 2020. The committee is chaired by Dr. Richard Reddick, Associate Dean for Equity, Community Engagement and Outreach at the school’s faculty of education. It has the task of documenting the facts, the intention, the origin and elements of the music, the institutional use of it by the school and “recommending possible tactics and / or communication strategies to memorize the story of ‘The Eyes of Texas’. “
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