Recommendations
Charge 4: Recommend potential communication tactics and or strategies to memorialize the history of “The Eyes of Texas”
Charge 4 presents the committee and the University an opportunity to ensure that the countless hours of research, dialogue, deliberation and understanding are appropriately understood and memorialized. Our work has made clear the importance of fact and equally, the importance of respectful dialogue, even when people view the facts through fundamentally different lenses. We understand and expect reasonable, thoughtful people to view our work and arrive at different conclusions. That, we believe, is where theconversation must begin. It is our hope that this report provides the framework for healthy discussion and ongoing understanding.
The work of this committee is important because, we hope, it will be a catalyst for conversation and an opportunity for our community to come together on challenging conversations, particularly about the history of our state, our University and our most cherished traditions.
The committee considered nearly one hundred ideas to include in this section. Below, we have identified a number of ideas that we, as a committee, believe are not only appropriate based on our charge, but important for the administration to consider and to implement. We understand that while the history of our University, our band, our athletic program and our alma mater will not change, the University can impact and affect positive change by acting on the recommendations in this report while continuing to address any inequities that exist in our university community and its culture.
Through our conversations, it has become clear that without facts and clarity, there will still be potential for division. Even with this report, that divide may remain –but it will be framed by facts grounded in history, rather than assumptions and narratives without factualbasis. Thus, the core of our findings in this charge focus on preserving the report, ensuring its access and protecting its place in our history so our current and future generations can have a place to learn, reflect and host challenging conversations about the past, and more important, the future. We humbly present 40 recommendations for the 40 Acres in response to Charge 4.
Accountability
1.
Ensure that the actions from the committee and report are assigned to an individual with oversight and financial authority (like the Office of the President or Division of Diversity and Community Engagement).
2.
Consider the development of an “Eyes of Accountability” Committee to ensure compliance as well as continued support for positive social change.
Students
3.
Recognize the students who used their voices and actions in brave ways and who lived up to our motto of “What Starts Here Changes the World.”
4.
Continue allowing students to choose if they want to sing the song.
5.
Educate students through student activities and groups.
6.
Teach the history of “The Eyes” and the university at student orientations.
7.
Create a fund (with Texas Exes) for student-athletes to have an active role in leading, learning and directing efforts for positive social change.
Culture
8.
Use the “EYES” to define the university’s shared expectations of the Longhorn community:
Embrace differences in others;
Yearn for deeper understanding;
Encourage greatness beyond self;
Service to the greater Longhorn community and society.
9.
Address the university culture to ensure clear definition of what it means to be a Longhorn.
10.
Review the Fan Conduct Standards at all UT events to ensure permanent removal for any fan using racially directed language.
11.
Honor and contextualize Black history, and the history of all historically underrepresented communities, at UT.
Publishing
12.
Reinforce to all that our school song will remain – so address the negativity of the song upfront and then go about educating people on the historical context.
13.
Create and publish a comprehensive fact-based history of the song.
14.
Offer a complete history to the UT community.
Website
15.
Develop an exceptionally high-quality, interactive, dedicated website with the artifacts, photos, important links, musical variations of the “The Eyes,” and video – portraying the history honestly and bravely.
16.
Update the Texas Exes webpage to talk about the entire history of the “The Eyes.”
Education
17.
Educate the faculty and staff – not only students – about the history of the song and the university.
18.
Develop a campaign that encourages Longhorns to lean into difficult conversations, including race, history and talking across difference.
19.
Use UT resources to teach our community (and to be a model to others) how to have difficult conversations –using our faculty experts, like the Difficult Dialogues Program and partners like Brene Brown.)
20.
Develop additional curriculum around social change, with potential funding mechanisms for students to actively make a difference through the class.
21.
Create an institute at UT to study and encourage difficult conversations about controversial and challenging topics, including “The Eyes of Texas.”
22.
Develop an official course for incoming UT students, including all athletes, band, governing council and spirit organizations, providing the history of “The Eyes of Texas,” the university, Austin and the pathway forward. This course should be open to faculty and staff as well.
Presentations
23.
Arrange meetings, conversations, gatherings of diverse groups of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and others connected to the university to share the work and have discussions.
24.
Work directly with Black Ex-Students of Texas (BEST) and Precursors to present the work and get input on how best to share the information with others.
25.
Provide educational opportunities to parents/guardians of students as well as student athletes, band members, and other ambassadors of the university to teach the history of the song and university.
26.
Create a learning guide on how to “Encourage Challenging Conversations” on “The Eyes of Texas” and the university’s history for leaders of organizations on and off campus.
27.
Present the history and the facts to Texes Exes Chapters across the country.
28.
Show a brief video at Longhorn football games (as well as other sports).
Videos
29.
Create multiple videos or docuseries on the history of “The Eyes” and its usage over time.
30.
Develop a video with members of the committee sharing their understanding of the committee’s findings and work.
31.
Create educational videos to play for all incoming students, including at Gone to Texas, to learn about the history and to learn how to productively engage with others.
32.
Produce a piece for Longhorn Network, which can also be used on the website, YouTube, the Harry Ransom Center and other places.
33.
Produce a high-quality documentary on “The Eyes,” integration and the history of the university, including the band, football, as well as spirit and traditions organizations, and distribute to alumni chapters.
Music
34.
Consider adding an additional pause before or after, or in a version of the song, to create a brief moment for personal and collective reflection.
35.
Follow the tradition of previous presidents by creating special orchestration of “The Eyes” with President Hartzell’s version composed or performed by a Black musician.
Display
36.
Devote a section in The Frank Denius Family University of Texas Athletics Hall of Fame at DKR to showcase the things the committee learned.
37.
Create a “Traditions Hall” at UT to memorialize the traditions, the history and the understanding of the defining traditions at UT.
38.
Create an exhibit in the Alumni Center to talk about the history of “The Eyes of Texas” and the ways we have and continue to move forward.
39.
Build a statue of Julius Whittier or Henry “Doc” Reeves in the student section of DKR to reinforce that there will always be a place at UT for them and to serve as inspiration for those who are not made to feel as if they belong.
40.
Display the committee’s historical document at the Briscoe Center.