On Thursday April 4th, hundreds of flyers, posters, and sticky notes were hanged on all parts of the 40 Acres. Each one of them with the text ‘#NOTOURTEXAS’. This was an action demonstrated by the movement called Not Our Texas which was created after UT Austin’s President Jay Hartzell announced the university’s compliance with the recently passed Texas Senate Bill, SB17. This bill detailed the halt of funding and availability to Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs. Since the bill took effect on January 1st 2024, several changes of names and categorization by these programs have occurred in an attempt to keep them open and available to the students who need them. Several of these programs include LGBTQ+ inclusion, First Generation inclusion, Women in STEM, and programs that helped Black and Hispanic students on campus. The most recent email sent out by the University’s President detailed a plan to close all Division of Diversity and Campus Engagement programs and even the dismissal of employees that ran these programs . With student of all backgrounds outraged by these actions, the movement Not Our Texas was born. The name stems from a current UT Austin slogan ‘Make it your Texas’ with the letters ‘our Texas’ emphasized. The Not Our Texas movement has quickly spread and grew on social media as well as the number of students who are now a part of it. Although the University attempted to discard as many flyers with the hashtag that were hanged on campus by mid day, the movement shows no signs of stopping until they see the return of diversity and inclusion programs make a return to campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Texas chapter.