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A federal complaint against the University of Texas alleges that the school is fostering a “hostile environment” for Black students by refusing to get rid of its controversial alma mater “The Eyes of Texas.”
The Texas and UT chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, as well as a group of anonymous students, filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on Friday noting the school’s decision to keep the song despite “its racially offensive origin, context and meaning,” according to the complaint.
Many have pressured UT to replace the song because it was first played in a minstrel show where student performers likely wore blackface. Many also believe the lyrics are connected to a saying by Confederate Army Commander Robert E. Lee.
University officials created a committee to study “The Eyes of Texas,” but ultimately decided it would remain part of the Longhorn tradition.
“The university had an unabated intention of making sure that ‘The Eyes of Texas’ would be handled, displayed, honored in the fashion that the donors had demanded, and there was no modification available in that decision,” said Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP. “Students made it very clear that they felt as though they were unwelcome at their own university.”
The students in the complaint remained anonymous because they feared “reprisals from both the university as well as the alums and supporters,” Bledsoe added.
Al-Nasser Lawal, a UT senior and president of the school’s chapter of the NAACP, said the Black President’s Leadership Council came together after last summer to urge the university administration to remove the song but nothing changed.
“There’s a lot of frustration between Black students on campus and the administration with them not listening to us when it comes to ‘The Eyes of Texas,’” Lawal said. “We feel as if they don’t really care about what we have to say.”
He added that hearing some of his fellow classmates sing along to the song knowing its history and the connotations behind it “is a slap in the face to me and other Black students on campus.”
The complaint alleges that UT officials failed to respond to racial harassment against Black students and others who oppose the song, violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, according to the complaint. It also claims that the school’s decision to create a separate university marching band starting in fall 2022 for students who don’t want to play the alma mater violates equal protections afforded under the Fourteenth Amendment.
The university’s Butler School of Music announced its plans to create the new band in April after members of the Longhorn Band refused to play “The Eyes of Texas.”
UT did not respond to comment on the complaint as of Tuesday afternoon. Officials at the U.S. Department of Education would not verify that the complaint was filed. The department typically only acknowledges a complaint if and when an investigation has been opened.
After the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed in police custody, and a wave of protests across the United States, students from the university protested and petitioned for the removal of the song saying it had a racist background.
Back-and-forth arguments ensued as alumni and fans defended the song and urged UT to keep playing it at games and events. Some even threatened to pull hefty donations unless the university continued the long-time tradition and stood behind its alma mater.
“The university has empowered a hostile group of alums and students that are conservative and anti-African American,” Bledsoe said. “This has permeated into all facets of everyday life for those students.”
In July, UT President Jay Hartzell wrote in a letter to the university that “The Eyes of Texas” will continue as UT’s alma mater and that the school would “reclaim and redefine” its meaning by owning the history behind it, adding that it would continue to be played at future Longhorn games and events.
“The song is interwoven with the history of our university, of Austin, of Texas, the South and the country,” Hartzell has said about the song. “That history is complicated. It’s nuanced … We can use a song to actually learn more about the history of racism and struggles with equality and equity in our country and in our campus as we go forward.”
A university committee created to document the 120-year history of the controversial song concluded that the song “had no racist intent” and that there was a “very low likelihood” that it was linked to Lee.
“It’s one thing to claim ignorance but … the history has been unveiled,” said Shevann Steuben, the Texas NAACP Youth and College Division president. “There should be no expectation for anyone to have to sit through (the song).”