I was at UT in the late 1980's - early 1990's. This was an era that many would regard as almost completely apathetic, but the reality is a bit different. While it wasn't the late 1960's there were plenty of protests going on. When I arrived as an impressionable young lad from the Greater Houston area, what I saw might as well have been Berkeley. Significant protests from my UT era: - Lots and lots of anti-Apartheid protests: free Mandela, petitions and sit ins to get UT to divest from companies doing business in South Africa, "to hell with Shell" being chanted, etc. - Protests of UT President "Dollar Bill" Cunningham's focus on securing graduate research dollars (especially from the military) at the supposed expense of undergraduate education. Sit-ins and takeovers of Dollar Bill Cunningham's office. - Vegetarian meat outs. Counter-protestors would light up grills and give out burgers and hot dogs. - A truly Massive protest when the sh1zt hit the fan after some morons from the FIJI frat put a 'Sambo' type head on a Michael Jordan figure in their yard at a frat house party. I think they also made t-shirts with the same image. They almost got shut down and booted on this one. This foreshadowed a lot of stuff going on in recent years (fortunately not much at UT). - Plenty of environmental protests, including protests over building around Barton Creek -- anti-developer protests (a strange and alien concept to a guy from Greater Houston). This included anti-Jim Bob Moffet protests / anti-Freeport McMoran protests. To those who weren't around, Jim Bob Moffet of Freeport McMoran (copper/gold/gas) was the biggest dog in the alumni pack of that era and he didn't hesitate to throw his weight around when it came to the football program or the University. Freeport McMoran also happened to be behind a big development near Barton Creek. - The first day of class gay 'kiss-in' on the front page of the Daily Texan; considered shocking at the time. - The closest thing to a riot was when Tom Penders' Runnin' Horns made it to the final 8. The buildings, dorms and West Campus apartments emptied and all took to the streets in an uncontrolled celebration. - Abortion pro and con - Grad students/TAs demonstrating for better benefits. - Pro and con 1st Gulf War protests - Rallies and speeches after the Berlin Wall fell.
I too can vouch for much of this. I'm not the type to protest, but I did enjoy walking through the West Mall and laughing at many of them. Unfortunately, that Great Eight run happened while I was abroad for my junior year. The bright side of that was being away for the 1989 football season, which had more downs than ups.
And by the way, take a look at the football schedules from that era. In 1989 and 1990, there were non-conference games against Colorado, Penn State, and Oklahoma. Our 1993 schedule started with back-to-back-to-back games against ranked teams out of conference. I wish we could go back to that.
And, how could I forget, in the Ann Richards vs. Clayton Williams election campaign, Clayton Williams (in textbook aggie fashion) put his boot in his mouth and said something like 'rape is inevitable, women should just sit back and enjoy it.' As you might imagine, that sparked a bunch of rallies and protests by NOW and other women's groups.
In addition to the "relax and enjoy it" comment, he also used to go to Boys Town (as in Nuevo Laredo, not the orphanage). It doesn't get much more Aggie than tranny-hookers and donkey shows.
I remember La Raza or another group like that protesting the March 2 Texas Independence mini-celebration that happens on campus. I also remember a Native American group protesting something on the West Mall. Other than that I mainly watched hippies play in drum circles just outside the Student Union.
If he had not made that comment, I would have given him a 90%+ chance of beating Ann Richards. Imagine the Aggies leading a hard fought game against the Horns by less than a touchdown late in the game. In the final seconds, the Aggie QB fumbles the snap, the Center accidentally kicks the ball to a Longhorn defender, who picks it up and runs it into the end zone. That's Clayton Williams. Better yet, imagine aTm failing to wrap up and tackle arguably the frailest QB we've ever trotted out on the field as he bounces like a pinball down the field into field goal range. Then we kick the field goal for a win as time runs out, and hold scoreboard for eternity. That's Clayton Williams.
Yep. After Clements and Reagan, the state was comfortable with Republicans in charge, but the Democrats weren't dead yet. They could win statewide, had big majorities in the Legislature, and had swept the statewide offices as recently as 1982, so it was possible for the GOP to screw it up with a healthy dose of Aggieness. Of course, the media adored Ann Richards and did everything they could to help her as they help most liberal politicians, but it wouldn't have been enough.
At the time and still today, I thought that Williams statement was the most stupid, insensitive and reckless thing I ever heard a politician running for office say. aggy gonna aggy....
As was I ... i remember reading in the Daily Texan this constant narrative about disenfranchisement of various demographics and how the University should (and did) build student union buildings for these particular demographics ... Even as a country mouse who knew doodley from shinola about "the world," I found that to be ironic ... UNITY ... except where we want our own to be special; which was dang near every demographic. The Persian Gulf War kicked-off during our time there ... while wearing the AFROTC uniform wasn't quite as bad as we knew our predecessors were treated in the late 60s/early 70s by the civilian-at-large population, there were the ignorant haters who'd make comments beyond their understanding and sometimes get somewhat physical with the lower class men. (because they'd take it in order to keep their uniform "inspection ready")
Yes ... and responding to question about prostitution ... he answered ~".... hell yeah, we'd go down there (S Texas/Mexico) to get serviced. (when he was an aggy student)" SMH.
And Ross Perot was running for President in '92. He had a huge rally on the front steps of the State Capitol. Perot's speech consisted, in large part, of Ross rattling off a bunch of down home sayings and folk wisdom. It was a funny and transitional time when you look at it in retrospect.
I was there '69-'75. Everybody protested everything; the Draft, the War, Frank Erwin, civil rights, the LBJ library, etc., etc., ad nauseam. You couldn't walk through the West Mall without getting hit up by a dozen different groups for money; the Black Panthers, SDS, and so many more. I got to where I would go out of my way to avoid the area. I was at a UT football game and they announced former President Lyndon B. Johnson was in the crowd. They booed the hell out him. It was embarrassing. Even then, most of the professors were long-haired, Ivy League liberals. The brain washing was well under way even back then.
It didn't take long for LBJ to go from villain to saint on the Forty Acres. UT and Austin in general may be the one place that holds a generally positive view of LBJ--although civil rights leaders should regard him very highly.
