'Our diversity is our strength': UT Onyx Honor Society hosts student caucus on SB 17

Hundreds of students last week gathered at a Texas student caucus hosted by the University of Texas’ Onyx Honor Society to discuss a new state law banning diversity, equity and inclusion offices and programs at higher education institutions, and to ask elected officials for advice on how to move forward.

Six weeks after Senate Bill 17 went into effect, students are organizing to advocate for UT to support queer students and students of color while staying compliant with the new law.

Lacey Reynolds, a junior at UT and president of the Onyx Honor Society — UT's first and only Black honors society — said Tuesday's event had more than 500 people in attendance with four full overflow rooms. The caucus was one of the first formal gatherings for students to discuss SB 17, and it was intended to give people a sense of clarity about what has changed — and to know that they are not alone.

“That was the first time I was seeing some students cry about what was going on,” she said. “Some people say the campus environment within itself, it just feels different.”

The honors society has hosted caucuses before, but this was the first open to everybody, Reynolds said, as the law affects many different communities. Several professors also attended the event, as did students from Huston-Tillotson University, Austin's only historically Black college or university.

State Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, who chairs the Texas Legislative Black Caucus; Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP chapter; and two council members — one from Pflugerville and the other from La Marque — spoke and took questions as part of the caucus’ panel.

“It was a solution in search of a freaking problem,” Ron Reynolds said of SB 17. “Let me say this at the outset: Our diversity is our strength.”

Speakers and students spoke about the loss of Black Graduation at UT, now run in a different form by Texas Exes, a nonprofit alumni organization. Students spoke about the loss of LGBTQ+ signage in the Women's Community Center, formerly the Gender and Sexuality Center, and the closing of Multicultural Engagement Center.

Lacey Reynolds also said UT students have had trouble securing funding for individuals from Black student groups to attend conferences. She and other students are hesitant to ask professors for help, as per SB 17, employees and contractors of public higher education institutions can be disciplined, “including by termination,” for violating the law, she said.

“We understand that we are the flagship university in the UT System and so we really set the standards, and we don't want to be the university that overdoes this bill,” she said. “We're trying to bring everything that we possibly can to the university so that they can see for themselves how the students are being affected.”

Students and panelists also spoke about action plans: meeting with UT President Jay Hartzell to discuss the needs of students, collecting data about the school's climate after the law, forming a multicultural coalition to advocate against SB 17 changes, posting on social media and brainstorming creative ways to fund student groups.

Hartzell told the American-Statesman on Friday that the university's focus on caring for students hasn't changed.

"The main thing is our continued maintained relentless focus on student success," he said. "We have to do what we have to do, but that does not at all change our commitment to students."

'It is a time of change'

Elijah Wahome, a UT sophomore and member of the Onyx Honor Society, said he came to UT because of its acceptance of LGBTQ+ students. Wahome, having grown up in a conservative Christian area in the state, said UT's focus on belonging made the university special to him.

“I toured the school, and I saw the pride flags that were on the churches and in the windows and on the walls,” he said. “I was 18 years old, walking around, just came out of the closet ... was facing a lot of rejection, and I stepped on this campus and I just felt a sense of belonging, a sense of home.”

Wahome worries SB 17 has set UT back. When Wahome sees tours happening now, he worries that as the visible symbols of belonging diminish, so will the actual sense of belonging if the state's attacks on DEI continue.

“I think the university does care about us. At least at the highest level, I think they do ultimately care, and I think they do ultimately want us to succeed,” Wahome said. “However, my fear is, how long is that going to last? Because at the end of the day, the university has to follow the law.”

Hartzell said the university is in a moment of change, but its commitment to students remains the same.

"We may have different tools at our disposal that we can use to help our students, but the main thing is we're going to continue to work to help our students," he said. "It is a time of change, and it's going to feel unsettled for a while, and I think we'll get to a place where people can feel more comfortable with the new normal, whatever that might look like."

Wahome said he hopes the Legislature repeals the law. But, he said, Onyx and other organizations on campus will continue to share their stories and to advocate for change.

SB 17 "makes people feel like they are being rejected, and when you make someone feel rejected, you make them inevitably feel unsafe,” he said. “If things continue to get worse, I hope that students continue to have these conversations and continue to advocate for change, and I hope they know that they are loved.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Hundreds of UT students gather for Texas Student Caucus on SB 17