Flyer handed out to students at UT advertising a town hall on anti-racism hosted by a leftist coalition named ATXResists

In February of 2016, a group of fascists associated with American Vanguard posted flyers all over the UT campus in the dead of night. These flyers included calls to “imagine a Muslim-free America” and report undocumented immigrants to ICE. There was outrage among the student body, and as the news spread the University was forced to respond. The milquetoast response, which centered the University’s commitment to “free speech” and failed to name the particularly fascistic character of the flyers, drew more outrage from students. This outrage was voiced at a University held town hall, where students and members of the coalition ATXResists criticized the University and heckled the administration. Parallel to this, ATXResists convened its own town hall of students, where there were discussions of the nature of white supremacy on campus, how the administration fails to respond, and how students could organize to build up their own power to respond to these moments. The meeting was hosted in a room in the Gordon White Building and was supported by the Black Studies Department, which provided free pizza for the event as well.