New alumni group brings free speech advocacy to UT Austin

University of Texas at Austin alumnus Clark Patterson loves his alma mater. But he’s worried.

In May, as protests over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict roiled college and university campuses, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and UT Austin leadership ordered police to arrest peaceful protesters demonstrating on public university grounds. This order clearly violated the protesters’ First Amendment rights. After watching these events unfold and seeing his alma mater land near the bottom of FIRE’s College Free Speech Rankings, Clark is taking action.

“Our ultimate goal is for UT Austin to become a top 10 university on free speech and due process issues.”

Clark — a 1988 graduate of UT Austin with a degree in government — is standing up for student free speech rights with the UT-Austin Coalition for Open Discourse, an advocacy group he founded this summer to involve alumni in pushing for progress on civil liberties at UT Austin. “Our ultimate goal is for UT Austin to become a top 10 university on free speech and due process issues,” Clark told FIRE of the new group, which posts regular updates on its Substack newsletter. “FIRE’s ranking of UT Austin as 239th in the College Free Speech Rankings accurately demonstrates that UT has a long way to go. Our new UT free speech alumni group aims to push UT to significantly improve that ranking.”

University of Texas at Austin

Austin, TX

School Ranking

239 of 248

Speech Code

Yellow

Free Speech Climate

Overall score: 26

More Info

Clark hopes the group will help improve the speech environment at UT Austin, which earns FIRE’s “yellow light” rating for maintaining at least one policy that, by virtue of vague wording, could too easily be applied to restrict protected expression.

Clark’s alumni group complements an already-robust student movement for free speech on campus. In 2019, a student-led push resulted in UT Austin’s student government passing a resolution urging the university to adopt a version of the Report of the Committee on Freedom of Expression at the University of Chicago, better known as the “Chicago Statement,” which articulates a commitment to uninhibited inquiry and free speech on campus. Subsequently, The UT System Board of Regents adopted The University of Texas System Commitment to Freedom of Speech and Expression. FIRE hopes to see UT Austin live up to the values outlined in the commitment — those of academic freedom and free speech. To do so, UT Austin should follow the lead of its students and alumni like Clark.

The UT-Austin Coalition for Open Discourse stands on principle, stating: 

For most of the 21st century, few persons or organizations on American college campuses have unequivocally supported free speech and due process rights for all individuals and groups across the political spectrum. We would like to join FIRE as one of the groups.

Clark recommends fellow alumni interested in making a principled defense of academic freedom put their money where their mouth is. “Please keep up with what the UT Austin administration is doing before making any contributions,” he urged. 

If alumni would like to clarify why they’re withholding donations, FIRE has a program through which they can make a donation to FIRE in lieu of a gift to their alma mater. When they do, we’ll let the university know that its speech environment cost it a donation. This also creates an opportunity to connect administrators with FIRE resources and people, such as our Policy Reform team, so they can improve their campus speech environment.

In addition to aiming to make a difference on free speech and due process rights on the UT Austin campus during the 2024-25 school year, Clark says he and his group “will vehemently oppose any anti-free speech and anti-due process legislation that may be proposed during the 2025 Texas legislative session.” As UT Austin faces pressures from politicians and university administrators to stifle speech, groups like Clark’s will be instrumental to protecting students’ First Amendment right to express themselves.

At a large school like UT Austin, there is strength in numbers. Join Clark Patterson and the rest of the newly-established UT-Austin Coalition for Open Discourse in letting UT Austin know alumni are dedicated to preserving free expression on campus.