Texas State University students have called for the resignation of their student body president after racially insensitive social media posts surfaced last week. This follows a tumultuous year of racial issues on campus.
"The actions by President Connor Clegg are absolutely reprehensible and he should be held accountable," Deanna Spearman, president of the school's chapter of the NAACP, said in statement.
The university began receiving attention for discriminatory incidents the day after the 2016 presidential election. Flyers expressing support for President Donald Trump, threatening university leaders and undocumented students, and advocating white supremacy were spotted on campus. Students and faculty held protests, and Texas State University President Denise Trauth sent out denouncing the messages. She also invited students to public forums and increased the campus police presence.
As more flyers and banners appeared across campus over the following year, an opinion article titled 鈥淵our DNA is an abomination鈥� was published in Texas State鈥檚 student-run newspaper, The University Star. In the article, senior Rudy Martinez criticized 鈥渨hite privilege.鈥�
"I hate you because you shouldn鈥檛 exist; you are both the dominant apparatus on the planet and the void in which all other cultures, upon meeting you, die,鈥� the article stated.
After the school received backlash, Trauth released a saying the article was "racist" and did not adhere to the campus鈥檚 values. Martinez said he believes the statement influenced the paper鈥檚 decision to fire him and his editor a day later.
鈥淚t placed a much larger target on my back, and I already had quite the target on my back,鈥� Martinez said. 鈥淭hat really hasn鈥檛 subsided.鈥�
Student Body President also publicly condemned the article and even started a petition to defund The University Star. .
Last month, the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs held a at Texas State to discuss students鈥� First Amendment rights. The committee heard comments from officials at Texas State, Texas A&M and Texas Southern University. (Republican state Rep. Briscoe Cain had been blocked from speaking at a TSU event months earlier after student protests.)
At that meeting, Trauth emphasized the importance of allowing students to be aware of and take advantage of their free speech rights. Martinez later told the committee those exact rights had been violated.
Fast-forward to last week: Discriminatory and sexist Instagram posts surfaced from Clegg鈥檚 account. The posts included photos of Asian people and nuns with racially insensitive and derogatory comments under them. Clegg , stating that he was immature and in high school when the photos were posted.
鈥淲hat I said in those posts was unacceptable and it was the byproduct of a complete cultural ignorance that I had before I came to Texas State,鈥� he said.
Trauth later released a condemning the posts.
Monday night, hundreds of students gathered at a calling for Clegg鈥檚 resignation and impeachment. Student activist Russell Boyd II said behavior like Clegg鈥檚 has been tolerated for too long and that racial tensions have not been addressed appropriately by Trauth, creating an environment where many students feel unsafe.
鈥�This university has gone above and beyond to make a name for itself, to bring in revenue, and no one is taking that away from her,鈥� Russell said. 鈥淏ut as far as someone being student-oriented and student-connected, she has done a very piss-poor job in my opinion.鈥�
Trauth has released at least in the past year about racism on campus. And although Martinez, Clegg and Boyd have strong opinions on what Texas State is or is not doing right, all agreed on one thing: There鈥檚 been more tension on campus, and it needs to be fixed.
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