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TUESDAY MARCH 9, 2021 VOLUME 110 ISSUE 6
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DEFENDING THE FIRST AMENDMENT SINCE 1911
Freshman pitcher's hot start propels softball to 10-3 record SEE PAGE 5
On-campus residents reflect on power outages, food scarcity during winter storm
Veteran who provided free seafood during winter storm: 'God put it in my heart'
Opinion: Texas State should cancel spring break this semester
SEE PAGE 2
SEE PAGE 3
SEE PAGE 4
ACTIVISM
PROTESTS, ARRESTS, TEARS, NEGOTIATIONS Activism at Texas State leaves Black students with unhealed wounds
Students gather near the Quad, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, at Texas State. Hundreds of students went to the area after four students were arrested on campus after a dispute between students. STAR FILE PHOTO
Then-Texas State public relations senior Tafari Robertson (left) and social work junior Cassidy Wright speak at a press conference during a sit-in, Friday, April 13, 2018, at the LBJ Student Center. STAR FILE PHOTO
Protesters at an event primarily organized by Texas State student Malina Sutton pose for a photo in front of the Hays County Historic Courthouse, Wednesday, June 10, 2020, in San Marcos. PHOTO BY JADEN EDISON
Students gather around the Fighting Stallions and call for the impeachment of thenStudent Government President Connor Clegg, Monday, Feb. 5, 2018, at Texas State. STAR FILE PHOTO
By Staff For the remainder of the school year, The University Star will take on “The 11% Project”, an examination of Black students at Texas State through History, Election, Hometowns, Activism, Creatives and 10 years from now. It took Tafari Robertson two years post-graduation to process the trauma he endured as a student at Texas State. “In the year [following] everything that happened on campus...I had graduated, but I was still in San Marcos,” Robertson says. “That was just, like, a really rough year for me because it was leaving the activist space. You know, it's hard to look back on and feel like you really did everything you could have.” Black students, like Robertson, have sometimes had to take on the job of the institution. Efforts to push for the university to denounce white supremacy, establish an African American Studies minor and hire and retain
more Black faculty members came at the cost of their own well-being. Black students' years on campus have included meetings with university officials in the aftermath of events that made them question why they enrolled. Racist flyers. A white supremacist banner hanging from the university library. Failed attempts to get elected student representatives to attend the impeachment trial of a student body president who posted racist and sexist material to social media. In this installment of The 11% Project, The University Star, along with the student activists who were involved, take a step back in time to revisit major protests that occurred on Texas State's campus in recent years and examine how they have impacted the students and university since.
THE MARCH ON CLEGG Over 300 students marched to the LBJ Teaching
Theater on the cold, overcast winter afternoon of Feb. 5, 2018, calling for the impeachment of then-Student Body President Connor Clegg. The event, formally known as the March to Demand Action to Racism at TXST, followed the resurgence of racist and sexist posts from Clegg’s personal Instagram account just four days prior. The account revealed photos of Clegg with people appearing of Asian descent featuring racist and sexist hashtags. The university administration took no action against Clegg other than the release of a statement from University President Denise Trauth calling racism, in any manifestation, “abhorrent” and stating Clegg had apologized — a response viewed by some in the Texas
SEE ACTIVISM PAGE 6