Millennial Activism at Work: University of Texas Backs Down from Sign Ban

Students at the University of Texas had a dilemma: support their candidate of choice for President by placing a sign in their residence hall window and face disciplinary action for doing so, or allow their First Amendment rights to be violated. They have that dilemma no more, thanks to students taking stands and the media shining a light on an un-American policy.

On Thursday, the university revoked its policy against signs being placed in residence hall windows and cleared the record of the two members of the University Democrats who held their ground and refused to take down the signs in their windows.

“We are very pleased with the decision and even more pleased that the university came to its decision so quickly,” said junior Connor Kincaid, who, along with his roommate and cousin Blake Kincaid, a sophomore, faced disciplinary hearings Wednesday afternoon after refusing to take down a campaign sign they had placed in their Brackenridge Hall window.

“We didn’t take this personally,” Connor Kincaid said. “We don’t harbor any resentment to the university; we feel vindicated.”

Administrators, of course, maintain that it wasn't the students or the media attention that made them change their minds. It merely "brought the issue to [their] attention." Right.

Powers told The Daily Texan that the media attention generated by the issue did not pressure him to change the rule, but brought the issue to his attention.

“I felt we ought to revisit and revise what the rules ought to be — something I think we should do from time to time,” Powers said.

If I was the Kincaid cousins, or any other political activist on that campus, I would be extremely sensitive to efforts by the administration to start walking back on their conciliatory talk. The reason for the ban in the first place was for beautification purposes. Here's a local news outlet covering the story before the university backed down:

But anyhow, now that the policy is temporarily revoked, what's very encouraging about this situation is that, once again, we have an example of Millennial activism. Zack Hall, the president of the University Democrats, explained the importance of collaboration in order to preempt any challenges to student rights.

Zack Hall, University Democrats’ president, said he is cautious about the future and calls on the university to ensure that political groups on campus be allowed to contribute to the committee process.

“It’s certainly a victory for students, and it’s a victory for the freedom of expression on campus,” Hall said. “Good things happen when the College Republicans and University Democrats work together.”

Both student organizations said they plan to continue working together to ensure students’ rights are not violated by the university.

And now, this discussion is on Millennial terms:

A committee will be created, comprising university officials and students, to evaluate whether the housing department should keep or change its ruling on signs.

So no unilateral decision by administrators on this, but a committee made up of students and staff will discuss the policy. This is what happens when Millennials observe a problem and work together to find a consensus on solving it. No loud protest was needed. No sit-ins were needed. But positive change was still created. Well-done.