U.T. at Austin Considering Increasing Funds for Latino Studies After Border Patrol-Themed Party Protests

*Winston Churchill is credited with saying “never let a good crisis go to waste.” That’s probably what the folks at the University of Texas’ Latino Community Affairs had in mind. You know, the old “take the lemons and make lemonade” idea: What do you do when a UT fraternity holds a”border patrol” party? Ask school officials to increase their budget for ethnic studies. VL

By Latinpost

After reports came out about a University of Texas at Austin fraternity party, hundreds of students marched through the University of Texas at Austin’s campus on Thursday to rally against the Phi Gamma Delta (or “Fiji”) border patrol party and the way Hispanics were portrayed.

The march was organized by University of Texas’ Latino Community Affairs, My San Antonio Express News reports. Students held posters reading, “Respect my culture,” and, “Our lives are not a joke.”

“It is clear they tried to stop the issue from happening,” said Mauricio Garcia, one of the organizers of the march. “It’s my understanding that the president sent out an email saying that (Fiji doesn’t) support this. The problem is that people came here, and they weren’t kicked out, so that means in some way that they condone this behavior.”

Garcia and the organization had a meeting with the Campus Climate Response Team on Thursday morning. The group and school officials discussed increasing funding for ethnic studies and the possibility of allowing Latino Community Affairs to have a role in the cultural-diversity requirement in the school.

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