SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) — Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse on Thursday responded to a campus demonstration that happened earlier in the week where people were seen carrying signs with “homophobic and misogynistic messages,” on them, in Damphousse’s words.
Two men — who were not affiliated with the university — were seen on campus Wednesday afternoon carrying signs with the language, according to Damphousse. KXAN also received several photos of the signs via our ReportIt email. The signs depicted messages calling women property and insinuating homosexuality is a sin, among other messages. One of the signs had a religious-affiliated website named on the bottom of it.
Damphousse’s letter, posted to the university’s website Thursday, read in part that the “type of behavior” displayed Wednesday “runs so contrary to the values that we hold at TXST — in particular, that we respect and value others and that we believe that all Bobcats belong here.”
He also said the type of messages expressed by the demonstrators “sow confusion, anger, distrust, bitterness, fear, and anxiety.”
The demonstrators left campus after about an hour, according to Damphousse. While there, university police monitored them, eventually drawing a crowd of students, faculty and staff.
No arrests were made, but Damphousse wrote in his statement that the university is “exploring potential legal responses as we learn more.”
In Damphousse’s letter, he said the incident was upsetting to him “because nothing is more important than the health and safety of our faculty, staff, and students. These men made our campus community feel unsafe, and that disturbs me deeply.”
He also acknowledged that it may have been particularly disturbing to some because of the timing of the incident occurring the day after a presidential election that was “charged with emotion.”
“Even though the timing may not have been intentional, it may have seemed like these events were related,” Damphousse said. “It is my hope that we will strive to focus on the things that unite us, treat each other with respect, and support each other as we learn, serve, inspire, and discover.”
Damphousse also addressed the reason the men were allowed on campus to begin with, citing free speech laws.
As a public university, TXST is required by law to make public outdoor campus spaces open to what are known as “expressive activities,” even by external groups with whom none of us agree. These groups are not required to seek permission or give prior notice, so we do not always know when they plan to come to our campuses. When we learn these events are happening, our procedures include deploying a trained expressive activity team composed of professionals, including University Police Department (UPD) officers. The team monitors these events in-person and helps keep everyone safe. We cannot restrict lawful access to our campus, nor may we limit what people say verbally or in writing so long as that speech falls within the legal bounds of the freedom of speech and assembly that is guaranteed by the First Amendment. You can find out more about how we handle these situations by visiting our Freedom of Expression webpage.
Kelly Damphousse, Texas State University President
Damphousse listed in his letter some actions the university is taking to keep its community safe.
- First, it is important to note that we have developed procedures to assist in keeping demonstrators and observers safe during expressive activity over the years based on experience and best practices. After every situation like this, we always assess how the events evolved so that we can learn more about how to improve our response to future incidents. Each event is a teachable moment.
- Second, we all share in the responsibility of keeping each other safe. As observers of expressive activity, we must also understand what we can do to keep ourselves and our community safe; this includes monitoring our own behavior to make sure that we are not violating laws or university policy. Throwing things at or assaulting demonstrators can result in you getting in trouble and may incite others to do the same, creating unsafe conditions for all – I don’t want that. I was encouraged to see members of our community bring out and hold signs with positive messages of respect.
- Third, when you see something, say something. Please let us know when you see something that appears to be a safety issue. If you ever feel unsafe or threatened, please reach out immediately to the UPD or to someone in authority. We have many avenues to report things so that we can take action to address them which are listed on our Report It website.
TXST has mental health resources that can be accessed on the Student Health Center webpage.