By Jake Holtzman

Austin, TX – On November 19, a group of around 30 UT Austin students and alumni rallied at the UT Systems Building during the UT board of regents meeting. Students are demanding that UT deny Trump’s Compact on Higher Education, which would slash gender and ethnic studies programs, lower international student enrollment, and limit academic freedom.

A small group of students went inside the meeting to give testimony in opposition to Trump’s compact, while some of the crowd continued to rally outside the building. Booming chants like, “Reject! Rise up! UT does not belong to Trump,” continued outside, echoing through the streets of downtown Austin.

Neto Longoria, a graduate student at UT Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs, was one of the speakers at the rally, saying, “What is happening today with the Trump compact is a travesty.”

Longoria continued, “The Latino Studies department and the African and African Diaspora Studies department are some of the best in the country. For them to consolidate these under American Studies is a shame. Why are we considering this compact anyway? UT has plenty of money.”

After three students gave testimony inside at the board of regents meeting, they returned outside to rejoin the rally. One of these speakers, Mia Reballosa, a student organizer with Austin SDS, said, “The administration can pretend to listen to us, they can pretend to care about what they want. But at the end of the day, they are still unwilling to make any real changes. So that is why we’re here today, and we are not going to stop demanding that the administration listens to students and does something for once that students actually want!”

#AustinTX #TX #StudentMovement #SDS

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