Faculty petition to hold no-confidence vote in UT-Austin president after protest response

By Robert Downen, Ikram Mohamed and William Melhado, The Texas Tribune “Faculty petition to hold no-confidence vote in UT-Austin president after protest response” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. Fallout from police crackdowns on a pro-Palestinian demonstration at the University of Texas at Austin continued Thursday morning with faculty condemning the response, university leaders defending their actions and students organizing a second round of protests. At a much less tense rally Thursday on UT-Austin’s campus, faculty with the school’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors said they planned to hold a vote of no confidence in President Jay Hartzell over his management of the protest the day before and the school’s implementation of legislation banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs at public universities. AAUP members were seen passing around a petition asking faculty to sign in their support. Students at the rally reiterated their main demand from the day before, calling on UT-Austin...