“That is my go-to study spot,” computational physics freshman Anay Patel said. “I was simply studying and doing my physics homework, and a security guard approached me.” 

Patel, who has autism and Tourette syndrome which causes him to have vocal and physical tics, said he was asked to leave the Scholar’s Commons silent study area in the Perry-Castañeda Library on Oct. 6. Patel said his tics are typically a subtle, occasionally loud sound or sometimes twitches. According to Patel, the vocal tics on this occasion were not particularly loud, and he has not had a problem studying in silent areas prior to this incident. 

Patel believes students in the area complained about the tics, which caused a PCL security guard to ask Patel to stop making noises, and later asked him to leave as the tics continued, he said. 

“I disclosed (to her), OK, I do have Tourette’s, so it’s not something that I can particularly control,’” Patel said. 

The security guard did not respond, but instead offered that Patel go to the fifth floor, the Collaborative Commons floor of the PCL. 

“Everyone that I talked to is like, ‘The security guard shouldn’t have done that,’ but also, she was just doing her job,” Patel said. “I think she went about it wrong after I told her I have Tourette’s. She probably should have talked to the student (complaining).”

After the incident occurred, Patel posted about it on his private Snapchat as well as the UT ‘26 group on Snapchat. 

“It’s very important that people know,” Patel said. “(The University is) saying all these false promises, and they’re not holding true to it. … Someone needs to hold them accountable.”

According to the University of Texas Libraries website, the Scholar Commons silent study area was designed to be a space where “any serious scholar would find a spot to be contemplative and productive.”

“The University of Texas Libraries is aware of an incident involving a student who was asked to relocate out of a silent study area in the Perry-Castañeda Library,” Travis Willmann, the UT Libraries communications officer, said in an email. 

Willmann said UT Libraries encourages students with conditional accommodations to register with the Disability and Access office in the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement. 

“I tried to go to the University to figure out who to contact and all this stuff, and it’s been kind of a hassle,” Patel said.

Kathleen Sakura Harrison, assistant director of communications in the Office of the Provost, provided the Texan with resources for students experiencing a campus accessibility barrier: a barrier report site and a Campus Climate Experience form. 

Harrison also advised students to check out the You Belong Here plan and the Disability Advocacy Student Coalition for more information about campus accessibility. 

Patel said he wanted to attend UT because of the “stature” of the programs and the University’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. Now, Patel said he feels limited. 

“I want quiet space, too,” Patel said. “I don’t think you should be excluded from these areas just because of something that you cannot help.”