Pro-Palestinian protests intensify on Texas college campuses
Pro-Palestinian protests intensify in Texas and across the country. Gov. Greg Abbott sends a letter to President Joe Biden announcing the State of Texas will ignore new rules on Title IX meant to protect LGBTQ+ students. And Jack profiles the primary runoff race for a North Texas State House seat.
Jack Fink covers these stories and more in the latest edition of Eye on Politics (original air date: May 5).
Chaos on campus
On college campuses across the country, protesters are continuing to hold demonstrations calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and for universities to divest their investments from corporations that do business with the Israeli military. The protests have led to thousands of arrests, including at the University of Texas in Austin and UT Dallas.
Texas' free speech law on college campuses changed in 2019 after Republicans in the House and Senate approved new guarantees for free speech and freedom of assembly. It's not just for students, but also for members of the community at large. However, the exception is if a person's conduct is against the law and if it is substantially disruptive to the campus.
For this week's episode, Jack spoke with two lawmakers — one who voted against that bill and one who voted for it. Watch those interviews below.
TX Rep. Ana-Maria Ramos of Dallas voted against the bill. She said UT Austin and UT Dallas haven't been transparent enough about their policy and actions.
TX Rep. Matt Shaheen of Plano voted for the bill. He disagrees with Ramos and said the protesters at UT Austin and UT Dallas were disruptive.
Legal Standoff
The State of Texas has joined other states in suing the federal government over new rules put in place that would expand Title IX protections. Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or educational program that receives federal funding.
Earlier this month, the Biden Administration announced revisions including making it illegal to discriminate based on gender identity.
Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas Education Agency to ignore the new rules and sent a letter President Joe Biden, saying in part:
"You have rewritten Title IX to force schools to treat boys as if they were girls and to accept every student's self-declared gender identity... Texas will fight to.. deny your abuse of authority."
Contested race
A Republican state representative in North Texas is among the incumbents fighting to keep his seat. DeWayne Burns of Cleburne hopes to hold onto the 58th Texas House District, in the primary runoff May 28 against challenger Helen Kerwin.
The district includes most of Burleson, Joshua, Cleburne and Glen Rose in Johnson and Somervell counties.
Kerwin has been endorsed by some top Republicans, including former President and presumed Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump, Gov. Greg Abbott, Sen. Ted Cruz, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Burns, who was first elected in 2014, told Jack Gov. Abbott endorsed his opponent after Burns voted against taxpayer-funded education savings accounts.
Watch Jack's full interview with Burns below:
Jack requested an interview with Kerwin, but her campaign declined his request.
Every week, CBS News Texas political reporter Jack Fink breaks down some of the biggest political stories grabbing headlines in North Texas and beyond. Watch the latest episode of Eye on Politics in the video player above and watch new episodes every Sunday at 7:30 a.m. on air and online.