Instead of using this space to show you how qualified we are to lead this University, we decided to share our thoughts on an issue that is much more important: our campus climate. On Wednesday, we attended President Fenves’ town hall on campus climate and left with much more concern than we came with. Students cried at, screamed at and criticized our administrators to their faces, yet students left with little hope or optimism in our university.

The hard truth is, thousands of students do not feel welcome on our campus. Students are verbally and physically harassed because of what they look like or to whom they pray. These concerns continue to be shared, yet nothing happens. How do we make it happen? The first part is to understand how much power we can wield if we are persistent.

It was students who demanded the removal of the Jefferson Davis statute. It was students who demanded to see a biased-incident policy, and though we haven’t seen as much progress as we want, we have the power to see it through — as long we keep pushing.

President Fenves gave a lukewarm response when asked to define the difference between free and hate speech, so we will answer the question ourselves. Hate speech is any speech that insults a race, religion, gender or creed. Period. Free speech should be encouraged at our university because it allows students to share their thoughts on a campus they pay thousands of dollars to
attend. However, all students must understand that insulting another community has no place on this campus. SG has been constantly criticized for supporting the potential existence of organizations like the KKK on our campus under the guise of “free speech.” Again, we’re going to answer your question directly. Organizations with messages similar to that of the KKK have absolutely no right on this campus because the essence of their organization is hate speech.

The Young Conservatives of Texas created a bake sale that has no place on this campus either. Not because of their views, but because of they way in which they shared their views. Any student has the absolute right to oppose our University’s policy on affirmative action, as it is a political issue that students have the right to openly protest. However, a bake sale that insults a race or gender by devaluing the price of a cookie is insulting and thus hate speech. Again, it is not hate speech because of their views, it is hate speech because they insulted various races and genders in doing so.

We will make it a priority every single day of our term next year to ensure that all students feel safe. We will stand up and speak up. We will demand action, but we need your help.

You have to start by being unapologetic of what makes you, you. White, black, rich, poor, the truth is that everyone has people who are out against them. We encourage you to join us in learning from people that are different from us. So come as you are, and we will have your back.

Carter is a government junior from Houston. O’Connell is a corporate communications junior from Ft. Worth.