We need a new song. For more context, I encourage everybody to check out this Roundtable Discussion among UT Faculty on the history and validity of the Eyes of Texas song at the "Not Even Past" website.
Also read "100 Problems in ‘The Eyes of Texas’: A long list of reasons why UT Austin should change its official school song" by Dr. Alberto Martinez.
The panelists themselves recommend a new song.
-Angela Valenzuela
University of Texas delays launch of band for students who don’t want to play ‘The Eyes of Texas’
University of Texas administrators have delayed the launch of the university band for students who don’t want to play "The Eyes of Texas" until at least 2023.
In April 2021, UT announced that a new to-be-named university band that would not play the school’s alma mater or fight song would launch in fall 2022. A UT spokesperson told KXAN that the band has been delayed until after UT hires a new director for the Butler School of Music, expected to be in place next fall.
Once it launches, the new band will be an academic for-credit course through the Butler School and will have members focus on leading, directing bands and community engagement, according to last year's media release. The Longhorn Band will still perform at campus events, such as graduation and football games, and be required to play the alma mater and fight song.
Some Longhorn Band members had previously refused to play ‘The Eyes of Texas’ due to the history of the song, which debuted at a minstrel show likely by student singers wearing blackface. At the beginning of March 2021, a committee published a 60-page report on the history of the song that found the song to have racist origins but no racist intent.
'The Eyes of Texas':UT students, Texas NAACP file federal civil rights complaint over song
Mary Ellen Poole left her position as director of the Butler School of Music to serve as Dean of the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University about two months after the announcement of the new band. She had held the position since 2014.
Jeff Hellmer, the former director of jazz studies at UT, is now serving as the interim director of the Butler School, and the university is currently searching for a permanent director, according to KXAN. UT did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the American-Statesman.
In the April announcement, leaders from the College of Fine Arts, Butler School of Music and University Bands also announced that all students in the Longhorn Band, Longhorn Pep Band, Mariachi Paredes and the newly created University Band would receive a performance scholarship of $1,000.
The plan also said that UT would expand the musical diversity of the bands, develop a security plan for students, provide “no cost” band membership, and create outreach efforts and social change opportunities across all university bands.
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