UT-Austin releases report on history of âThe Eyes of Texasâ
In recent months, the song has divided the university community. Over the summer, students protested and petitioned the university to rid the campus of the song, which has ties to minstrel shows. The University of Texas at Austin s Class of 2023 attends the university s annual Gone to Texas on Aug. 27, 2019. (Source: Eddie Gaspar The Daily Texan) By Kate McGee | March 9, 2021 at 9:08 AM CST - Updated March 9 at 5:30 PM
AUSTIN, Texas (The Texas Tribune) - The University of Texas at Austin on Tuesday released the findings of a report â months in the making â exploring the history of its alma mater song, âThe Eyes of Texas.â Read the report here.
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UT students and football players singing The Eyes of Texas after a win.
AUSTIN, Texas The Texas Longhorns had just lost to rival Oklahoma for the third time in a row this time after a quadruple overtime.
The bruising loss was quickly overshadowed when then-Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger stood alone on the field for the playing of the university’s alma mater song The Eyes of Texas, a postgame tradition. The rest of the team, who typically stay to sing the song with fans at the end of games, had retreated from the field.
For many University of Texas at Austin students who had spent months protesting and petitioning the school to get rid of The Eyes of Texas, it was gutting to see the student leader seemingly taking a stand. (Ehlinger later said he was only lingering alone on the field to talk with coaches.) The song played to the tune of I’ve been working on the railroad was historically performed at campus minstrel shows, and the title
It is disgraceful to see the lack of unity and our fiercest competitor Sam E[h]linger standing nearly alone, wrote one graduate whose name was also redacted by the university to protect the identity of a donor. It is symbolic of the disarray of this football program which you inherited. The critical race theory garbage that has been embraced by the football program and the university is doing massive irreparable damage.
Among the donors who reached out was billionaire businessman and alumnus Bob Rowling, whose holding company owns Omni Hotels and Gold’s Gym and whose name graces a building within the McCombs School of Business.