University of Texas Keeps Iconic Fight Song Despite Activist Students’ Call to Drop It

A general view of fans before a game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Texas Longhorns at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 19, 2009. Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

University of Texas (UT) at Austin will keep “The Eyes of Texas” as its anthem, despite a request from black student-athletes to drop it.

In a letter shared Monday to the campus community, UT-Austin’s interim president Jay Hartzell promised to implement a series of changes in response to demands of black student activists and athletes seeking to remove what they see as reminders of racial injustice in the university’s history, including the song “The Eyes of Texas.”