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The Longhorn Band won’t play “The Eyes of Texas” at the University of Texas at Austin-Baylor University soccer game this Saturday after a survey of members found several students unwilling to take the traditional Alma, according to The Daily Texan Play mater song.
The poll was sent to band members who asked if they would be willing to play “The Eyes of Texas,” a song that has divided the university community in recent months over its connections to black-faced minstrel shows. The Daily Texan reported that a message sent to the band members by leader Scott Hanna said that poll results would have no bearing on whether the band will perform at future games. The band haven’t played a football game this season due to security restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the student newspaper, the band members are “evenly spaced” while playing the song, but responses from certain sections of instruments would prevent the band from playing this week. The message from Hanna said that many of the band members wanted more discussions about the song that it would facilitate.
On Wednesday evening, UT Austin President Jay Hartzell said that a recording of the song will be played during the game that Saturday and will also be played at future games and events. He said they didn’t plan for the band to perform live this weekend.
“We knew this summer that if we made our campus more inviting, we would face a lot of tough conversations,” said Hartzell. “I am still very optimistic that we will find ways to bring our song together, which has been so positive for so many Longhorns over the past 120 years.”
The song was recorded in the first two home games of the season against the University of Texas-El Paso and Texas Christian University. Doug Dempster, dean of the College of Fine Arts at UT-Austin, said in a letter in September that the band are expected to play the song when they return in person.
The song again gained attention after quarterback Sam Ehlinger was photographed and sung standing alone after the UT Austin game against Oklahoma on October 12th. Many players had already left the field. Ehlinger later said it was a misunderstanding and that he was on the field to speak to coaches. But he said he sang the song because it made him feel connected to his family and his late father, whom he saw as an adult at the UT-Austin games.
Student athletes asked UT-Austin to drop the school song during the Black Lives Matter protests this summer, among other things, and threatened to refrain from attending recruitment and donation events. The university responded with plans to encourage the enrollment and recruitment of black students, but kept the song up and promised to educate visitors and students about its history and context.
“Together we can define what the Eyes of Texas expect from us, what they ask of us and what standard they are now maintaining,” Hartzell said in the July statement. “’The Eyes of Texas’ should not only unite us, but hold us all accountable for the core values of our institution. But we have to own the story first. Only then can we re-imagine the future. “
Removing the song “The Eyes of Texas” wasn’t the only request the student made last summer. Student athletes and other groups also insisted that UT remove a statue of James Hogg, a prominent segregationist, rename some campus buildings named after Texans who represented racist views, and give 0.5% of the sports department’s income to the Black Lives Matter movement donated.
The university announced it would put plaques on statues to educate visitors about the Littlefield Fountain, Statue of Hogg, and Pedestal, which several statues stood on until 2017. They also promised to erect statues to honor black figures in UT-Austin’s history and to rename two campus structures, although it is unclear which ones would be renamed.
Disclosure: Baylor University, Texas Christian University, and the University of Texas at Austin have sponsored The Texas Tribune, a non-profit, impartial news organization funded in part by donations from members, foundations, and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the journalism of the Tribune. A full list can be found here.
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