ARLINGTON, Texas — State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, is one of the many folks to criticize the law enforcement response to the initial, pro-Palestinian protest on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin.
Eckhardt called the police presence overwhelming, and she thinks it actually escalated the situation.
Last Monday, days after that initial protest, 79 protestors were arrested after dozens of them set up an encampment on campus.
Eckhardt says she wants to play a role in any future protests, helping to de-escalate both sides.
“I’m hoping that on the side of the protestors, that we stay within the time, place and manner restrictions. And on the side of the University, that the administration applies those rules in a neutral fashion without resorting to, frankly, an overwhelming, and frightening and expensive police response,” she told us on Inside Texas Politics.
The lawmaker says she exchanged text messages with University of Texas President Jay Hartzell that were “very productive.”
While she continues to reach out to university leadership, she says she hasn’t received a response since those initial days.
“Last week, we had a very good, very adult and productive exchange about what their fears were and how we might be able to work together moving forward to de-escalate the circumstance. I will confess that since then, I’ve not heard from them directly, which I have some disappointment about,” said Eckhardt.
The protestors are calling on the University of Texas to stop doing business with companies that provide weapons to Israel and for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, which has left more than 35,000 people dead on both sides.
Eckhardt tells us she does not buy into the idea that the overwhelming law enforcement response to the initial campus protest helped to keep future protests in check.
“Under the First Amendment, you can’t preemptively stop speech before it happens,” she argued. “You can manage it from time, place, and manner restriction and have it neutrally applied. But you can’t say I think something might happen, and therefore I’m going to make sure nothing happens.”