The Office of the Dean of Students suspended one student and issued deferred suspensions to six on Wednesday for their involvement in a Nov. 7 sit-in at the UT Tower.
UT notified the seven students that they had been found responsible for unauthorized entry into the Provost’s suite, where they engaged in “disruptive conduct,” according to documents obtained by the Texan. Computer science sophomore Daniel Ramirez was the only student found responsible for “prompting or inciting” disruptive conduct and has been suspended until May 10, according to Ramirez’s case resolution form.
The six other students include philosophy freshman Elijah Rivera; biology freshman Madelein Zajicek; history and civil engineering junior Parker Oehler; civil engineering senior William Spencer Terry; biomedical engineering sophomore Javier Perez-Salazar; and College of Liberal Arts Ph.D. student Áine McGehee Marley. According to documents, they received deferred suspensions for a year, which means they will only be suspended if they are found violating Institutional Rules again.
A University spokesperson wrote in an email that due to privacy law, the University is unable to confirm or comment on disciplinary actions against students.
Of the students, six are members of Students for a Democratic Society, while McGehee is a member of the Graduate Workers Union. On Nov. 7, the students protested against the proposed consolidation of programs within the College of Liberal Arts and the compact that President Donald Trump’s administration initially sent to UT and eight other institutions last October.
University President Jim Davis announced Thursday that seven COLA departments are being consolidated, but the University has yet to publicly announce a decision on the compact.
A student involved in a disciplinary decision has three choices: they can accept the decision and the punishment, accept only the decision and dispute the punishment, or they can dispute both by submitting an appeal, according to the documents. Students have until Feb. 18 to indicate their choice or will default to accepting their decision.
Ramirez said he will appeal both his charges and the suspension, and he will have to go through a hearing process.
“So what does suspension mean?” Ramirez said. “It means I’m fired from my job that I use to eat because I work on campus. It means that all of the credit this semester is revoked.”
If the suspension holds up, Ramirez would be prohibited from entering campus without approval from John Dalton, vice president for student affairs and acting dean of students, according to Ramirez’s case form.
“Repressing a couple students is not going to slow us down,” Ramirez said. “We have a lot of (SDS) members that are ready to keep fighting, both for students to get their charges dropped, but primarily to prevent consolidation.”
