Texas lawmakers find consensus on bill banning diversity, equity and inclusion offices in public universities
The full House and Senate still must approve the final bill language before sending the legislation to Gov. Greg Abbott. If it becomes law, Texas will become the second state in the country to ban DEI offices at public universities.
6 students involved in SFA police incident file lawsuit against university
NACOGDOCHES, Texas โ Six students involved in an incident where police stormed another studentโs room have filed a lawsuit against Steven F. Austin University accusing the school of violating their Fourteenth Amendment right to due process. Evans, who is Black, said she believes the incident was orchestrated by her white roommates and motivated by her race. However, SFA police Chief John Fields said there were multiple ladies involved in the incident and the โevidence doesnโt lead to any racism. โEven worse, SFA has acknowledged numerous falsehoods related to how the incident is being portrayed to and reported in the media, yet SFA continues to rush to punish these students for something they did not do,โ the lawsuit reads. A temporary restraining order has been granted to the students, preventing the university from taking any further action and requiring the school to preserve any evidence concerning the incident.
SFA hands over investigation to DAโs office while asking Evansโ family to agree to release the bodycam video of incident
SFA also claimed that they are awaiting permission from Evans' family to release body camera video that they said will show police acted โprofessional." According to Harris, the SFA officers' guns were not drawn or pointed, and that the room was dark. Harris said the university cannot release the video without the permission of Evans and her family. โ(We) call on the Evans' family to join us by agreeing to release the bodycam video of the incident,โ she said. However, Evans' attorney Randall Kallinen said SFA has not allowed Evans, the family or himself to view the video while simultaneously seeking to release the video for the public and media.
Officials: Evidence supports SFA police incident wasnโt racially motivated
NACOGDOCHES, Texas โ Investigators at Stephen F. Austin State University said Wednesday they do not believe an incident involving police entering a studentโs room earlier this month was racially motivated. Evans, who is Black, said she believed the incident was orchestrated by her white roommates and that she believes the incident was motivated by her race. SFA police Chief John Fields said there are up to 11 females involved in the incident. The chief said officers responded to the incident as if a studentโs life was in danger. Gordon also said that he was concerned about the fact that he had to learn about the incident from Evans' family.
SFA president says students who filed false police report against Black student broke code of conduct, possibly law
HOUSTON โ The president of Stephen F. Austin University said the group of students who filed a false police report against a Black freshman student that led to campus police storming the teenโs dorm room with guns drawn, broke the student code of conduct and possibly the law. The attorney for 17-year-old Christin Evans says she was the victim of a racist set-up, orchestrated by her white roommates. In a late Monday tweet, Assistant Vice President and Dean of Student Affairs Adam Peck said a student โconduct process is already underway. Filing a false report violates the SFA Code of Conduct and potentially the law as well. We will not have this at SFA," Gordon wrote in the statement.
SFA campus police storm Black studentโs dorm with guns drawn after Houston family says white students made false claims
It has made me really paranoid,โ said 17-year-old Christin Evans. Kallinen says the teenโs three white roommates, along with as many as seven other girls, initiated the โswattingโ by telling their resident assistant that Evans was trying to attack them. โThe university is investigating a racially diverse group of students in an incident involving a false report to the university police department. Christin Evans' parents said the majority of the students involved in the incident are white. โI was looking forward to making friends and having a good time on the cheer team, but since this has happened, itโs made it really, really hard,โ she said, holding back tears.