{"id":234,"date":"2024-04-26T16:04:22","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T16:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/texas\/press-releases\/common-cause-texas-calls-out-lawmakers-response-to-ut-austin-protests\/"},"modified":"2024-04-26T16:04:22","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T16:04:22","slug":"common-cause-texas-calls-out-lawmakers-response-to-ut-austin-protests","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/texas\/press\/common-cause-texas-calls-out-lawmakers-response-to-ut-austin-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Cause Texas Calls Out Lawmakers\u2019 Response to UT Austin Protests"},"template":"","class_list":["post-234","press","type-press","status-publish","hentry","press_type-press-release"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"\u201cFrom attempts to prohibit polling places on campus to these mass arrests of peaceful protestors, it is clear the politicians in power in Texas are doing all they can to stifle the voices of those they disagree with,\" said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas. ","featured_image":"","press_type":153,"authors":["{\"site_id\":\"78\",\"post_type\":\"person\",\"post_id\":235}"],"related_issues":[111,113,408],"related_work":false,"location":52},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":null,"name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"<b>AUSTIN \u2013<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Yesterday, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.statesman.com\/story\/news\/education\/2024\/04\/25\/ut-austin-professors-students-pro-palestinian-protest-campus-live-updates\/73450483007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">more than 50 students were arrested<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the University of Texas campus during a peaceful protest in response to the war in Gaza. Also arrested was a photographer covering the protest for Fox 7 Austin.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">News of the arrests was applauded by conservative politicians, chiefly Governor Greg Abbott who posted on X \u201cArrests being made right now &amp; will continue until the crowd disperses. These protesters belong in jail.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Governor Abbott\u2019s deployment of more than 100 Department of Public Safety troopers comes in the wake of an order he issued on March 27th warning university leaders to promptly adopt policies specifically crafted to limit the free speech of organizations such as the Palestine Solidarity Committee and Students for Justice in Palestine, which were named <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/gov.texas.gov\/uploads\/files\/press\/EO-GA-44_antisemitism_in_institutions_of_higher_ed_IMAGE_03-27-2024.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in the order.\u00a0<\/span><\/a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since 2019, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.icnl.org\/usprotestlawtracker\/?location=48&amp;status=&amp;issue=&amp;date=&amp;type=\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">at least 10 bills<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have been filed by conservative lawmakers in the Texas legislature seeking to silence voices of dissent, particularly on college campuses. One filed last year specifically sought to prohibit polling places from being placed on college campuses.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some reporters are estimating close to 170 similar student arrests have been made at other Texas universities.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>In response to lawmakers support of the arrests,\u00a0 Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas, issued the following statement:<\/b>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe right to free speech, as long as it does not cross the line into hate speech, harassment or threats, should never be infringed upon, but especially not at our institutions of higher learning.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFrom attempts to prohibit polling places on campus to these mass arrests of peaceful protestors, it is clear the politicians in power in Texas are doing all they can to stifle the voices of those they disagree with.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThese punitive actions by Governor Abbott are a direct attack on students\u2019 rights of free speech. Texas lawmakers shouldn't support the silencing of students' voices for protesting or punish them for speaking up for their rights.\u201d<\/span>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">###<\/span><\/p>"}}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Common Cause Texas Calls Out Lawmakers\u2019 Response to UT Austin Protests - Common Cause Texas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/texas\/press-releases\/common-cause-texas-calls-out-lawmakers-response-to-ut-austin-protests\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Common Cause Texas Calls Out Lawmakers\u2019 Response to UT Austin Protests\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/texas\/press\/common-cause-texas-calls-out-lawmakers-response-to-ut-austin-protests\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Cause Texas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/texas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/common-cause-share-image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/texas\/press-releases\/common-cause-texas-calls-out-lawmakers-response-to-ut-austin-protests\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/texas\/press-releases\/common-cause-texas-calls-out-lawmakers-response-to-ut-austin-protests\/\",\"name\":\"Common Cause Texas Calls Out Lawmakers\u2019 Response to UT Austin Protests - 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