Around 10 students with the organization Austin Students for a Democratic Society protested outside of the Perry-Castañeda Library on Oct. 27 for increased support of reproductive justice and trans students’ rights by the University.   

After protesting, SDS officers organized a call-in on Friday where they called several University administrative offices, such as the office of President Jay Hartzell, demanding that UT not only take a public stance supporting abortion rights, but also declare itself a sanctuary campus for transgender youth. 

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In March, Austin became a sanctuary city for transgender youth when Austin mayor Steve Adler said the city would refute Governor Greg Abbott’s directive to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate child sex-change operations as a form of abuse. 

“UT was totally silent on it,” said Jake Holtzman, a graduate student in the Butler School of Music and president of SDS. “We came up with the demand last semester that they should declare the campus a sanctuary campus, so that they’re more proactively taking a public stance for their trans students’ rights.” 

SDS protesters held a mannequin, which stated their demands: “Free menstrual products on campus NOW… Abortion is a personal decision, not a legal battle.” 

Jake Tran, a biochemistry junior and protest bystander, said the mannequin was an effective tactic to get students to look at the protest and the issues SDS was calling attention to. 

“It is a bit hard in Texas to get these changes through,” Tran said. “Austin is a blue dot in a red sea, politically speaking, but I think UT is pretty open to these sorts of things, and I think with enough support … they might consider it.”

Holtzman said the organization has been trying to contact University administration to present their arguments since last spring, but have gotten no response. 

Ashley Awad, an international relations and global studies junior and SDS officer, said she believes the University can better respect transgender students by upholding the privacy of trans students and not requiring them to answer questions about their gender identity.

Organizers said they believe the University can further improve relations with transgender students by granting department status to the Center for Women’s & Transgender Studies, which Awad said would allocate more resources to address issues of gender identity.

Tran said while he believes department status may be useful, it would ultimately be up to the student body to determine if they would use the resources. 

The group also demanded that the University provide free menstrual products around campus. According to previous Daily Texan reporting, they are currently provided only at select locations, which Awad said are not adequately stocked. 

“It just depends on if you go into a restroom and see them or not,” Awad said. “It’s not really regulated.”

Organizers said the University should also implement more gender-neutral restrooms around campus as well as gender-neutral showers in Gregory Gymnasium. 

The 74 existing gender-neutral restrooms are cataloged by the Gender & Sexuality Center, but Holtzman said they are typically less accessible and there could always be more. 

While the organization is small, organizers said they hope they can make a difference in the lives of women and the LGBTQ+ community at the University.

“We’re out here; we’re not going to stop struggling for our demands and for our rights until they’re met,” Holtzman said.