At a disciplinary hearing Wednesday, two University of Texas roommates defended their right to post political signs in their dorm window in opposition to a housing rule that bans window displays and is designed to "prevent things plastered around campus willy-nilly," as one school official put it.
The two students—also members of the University Democrats—had until 7 p.m. Wednesday to take down two political signs in their dorm room windows, the Daily Texan reports. They were told that if the signs were not taken down by the deadline, they would not be allowed to register for spring classes. But as of 9:30 p.m., the signs were still up and both could still register.
Over the course of the semester, the two students had been warned at least three times that their signs violated housing guidelines, and last week, they were notified of the disciplinary hearing.
The two students say they have no plans to remove the signs and have threatened to take the university to court, with the backing of both the University Democrats and College Republicans. Furthermore, the president of the University Democrats has called on other students to place signs in their windows, daring the university—which has said it would discipline all other residents who tried a similar stunt—to come after all of them. "We are going to make UT have 1,000 hearings," he said to the media at an impromptu press conference Wednesday. "Make UT fight you—put your signs up."
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John Ross McCaghren of TX 3:28PM March 06, 2009
mark of TX 6:08PM October 09, 2008
mark of TX 6:08PM October 09, 2008