UT paying consultant up to $1.1 million to revamp image of “Eyes of Texas” song

By Editor On Jul 19, 2021

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Last fall, when students at the University of Texas at Austin swirled with outrage over the school’s alma mater, “The Eyes of Texas,” and its early association with campus minstrel shows, President Jay Hartzell made a classic choice for higher education: He organized a committee.

This, he said, would include 24 Longhorn athletes, historians, professors and students who will examine and record the full history of ‘The Eyes’ and recommend ways we can openly acknowledge, share and learn from it.

But when the group released its final report in March, a new name was tacitly added to its ranks: Brad Deutser, a Houston-based consultant who supports companies with everything from corporate culture to crisis communications to branding.

In fact, UT-Austin had engaged Deutser and his company with two contracts worth up to $ 1.1 million to redesign the image of the alma mater, along with broader organizational projects, including a new communication and engagement strategy for the university and the definition of “what it is”. means being a longhorn, ”read copies of the contracts The Texas Tribune received through an open filing request.

Ultimately, the committee’s report concluded that the intent of the song was “not overtly racist” and failed to find any primary documents associating the phrase with Confederate General Robert E. Lee, as previously claimed by some members of the school community .

Deutser’s involvement in the work of the group was so significant that he was listed as chairman of the committee in the final report.

“Brad Deutser has been tireless in our work by interviewing hundreds of members of the Longhorn Nation, participating in our committee work, and orchestrating many of the committee’s products such as the videos – a really dedicated Longhorn,” wrote UT-Austin Professor and Committee co-chair Richard Reddick in a letter accompanying the report.

Hartzell hired the Eyes of Texas committee to research and document the song’s history last November after a group of high school students and student athletes asked the school to stop singing after the police died after George Floyd. Students raised issues with the song’s origins, including its premiere on a campus minstrel show where students likely wore blackface.

According to the contract, Deutser was also obliged to “reconcile the results of the Eyes of Texas History Committee with cultural imperatives” and “use the results to build the desired culture and the necessary understanding”. He should also develop a communication strategy for the report.

Deutser, who is white, was also hired to oversee several diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, including “Developing the Plan to Create a More Welcoming Campus and Community”. A special role is to work with education leaders in Texas to “understand the prospects of black high school students.”

While Reddick praised Deutser’s work with the Eyes of Texas committee, several student leaders who met with Deutser and other university administrators during the spring semester said they had various lessons from the meetings they attended.

Some students referred to the meetings held after the university report was published as “lectures,” at which they believed Deutser attempted to convince them of the school’s position on the song, rather than encouraging real dialogue or addressing concerns of students to enter. Other students said they were confused by his presence and felt that he was not taking their views seriously.

“It was like he really wanted to convince us of what she thought about ‘that’s what the song means,'” said Brianna McBride, a recent graduate who served on the Leadership Council of the Black President at UT -Austin headed.

Alcess Nonot, another UT graduate and former president of the UT College Council Senate, said she also attended a few virtual meetings with Deutser after the Eyes of Texas report was released. She said hearing what the contract was about now raises questions about the intent of these meetings.

“It just sounds like his job was to make sure everyone is happy and the argument just stops,” she said. “If the goal was to bring students together, I’m not sure if that happened after the report was published.”

Hartzell stated that last July – months before the committee’s report was released – the song would persist as he announced a variety of diversity initiatives and changes to make the campus a more welcoming place. The committee, he said, would enable the university “to fully own, recognize and teach the school song.” The report eventually confirmed that the song debuted on a minstrel show, but failed to find any evidence directly linking the song to Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee, as previously claimed by opponents of the song.

“These historical facts add complexity and richness to the story of a song that debuted in what was, for the time, an extremely racist environment, but, as most research has shown, had no racist intent,” the report’s abstract reads. “‘The Eyes of Texas’ should not only unite us, but make us all responsible for the core values of our institution.”

Nonot said many students questioned the committee’s report’s findings after another UT Austin professor, Alberto Martinez, released a second report that included additional information and analysis about the song not included in the university’s report . Martinez claims his research shows that the phrase “Eyes of Texas” was inspired by a story that former UT Austin President William Prather read about General Lee and was written specifically for a minstrel show.

The Black President’s Leadership Council, a group of black student group leaders on campus, similarly proposed these meetings with the university administration after Martinez’s report raised questions about the thoroughness of the information in UT-Austin’s report.

“On the day the first report was published, hour-long meetings were called at the last minute to discuss the results,” wrote the council in a letter dated March 31 to Hartzell and the Council of Regency. “Given the incompleteness of these finds, we spent these hours being lit with gas, disregarding our intelligence and wasting our time.”

In May, the Senate of the University Council wrote a letter to Hartzell and other university directors calling on the university to abolish the song at all university events, citing this report as evidence.

“There is no doubt that” The Eyes of Texas “not only has an explicitly racist past, but has harmful effects on the present,” the letter said. “No student should feel unwelcome at UT, but The Eyes of Texas prevents many black students from feeling valued, respected, or heard.”

UT-Austin has publicly admitted its own report, “Understanding that others would review their work and arrive at their own conclusions as to what the nature of science is,” according to a statement by spokesman JB Bird. However, Deutser was more critical of Martinez’s report at at least one meeting with students, according to an audio recording the Tribune received this spring between Deutser and UT Austin student tour guides.

Deutser had met with the guides in April before they went on strike over a dispute over whether a plaque with the texts of Eyes of Texas should be removed from the university’s welcome center. At this meeting, Deutser called Martinez’s report “more of an expression of opinion”.

“They didn’t have access to the documents, they chose to ignore some documents. There is some information that exactly overlaps. But unfortunately the facts do not support the story. This is an angry employee who is suing the university, ”Deutser told the students. “That complicates it, because what does the media want? You want to take up controversy. “

Martinez filed a lawsuit against UT-Austin and its former head of department in 2020, accusing the school of gender discrimination and retaliation after posting a report detailing pay inequality for Hispanic faculty.

Martinez denied to the Tribune that his research into the song was related to his complaint to UT-Austin.

According to the contracts, Deutser supported the university from August to the end of 2020 with a maximum total remuneration of 150,000 US dollars. UT-Austin officials then signed an additional contract with Deutser’s company in December that runs through 2021 and has a maximum payment of $ 900,000 including service fees and travel expenses.

The university has paid Deutser’s company at least $ 400,000 to date, as indicated by monthly invoices submitted by his company and provided via an open filing request.

Deutser and UT-Austin did not respond to multiple requests for an interview about the contractual services or how Deutser was accepted into the volunteer committee.

In addition to working with the Eyes of Texas committee, Deutser also had to work on something called the “Longhorn Way,” which would define what it means to be a Longhorn and develop a book and tools that will guide new employees and student orientations.

While the committee’s report on the song is finalized, it remains to be seen whether students will accept the results. Some UT Austin students said they believe that returning to personal campus life in the fall semester will reinvigorate the discussion for the rest of this year and beyond, especially as UT Austin continues to execute on its plan to be a welcoming campus.

Nonetheless, UT-Austin should tap into the intellectual capital already on campus without outside help.

“We have really amazing faculties, black faculties, [people of color] Faculty that [diversity, equity and inclusion] work and do it really well and teach the students, ”said Nonot. “I wish the university would rely more on the resources we already have to help us have these tough conversations.”

Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin financially supports The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization funded in part by donations from members, foundations, and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the journalism of the Tribune. You can find a full list of them here.

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