Attention UT students: The Federalist Society is having a Symposium Friday and Saturday, March 1-2 at UT on the subject of the federal Leviathan state. Ted Cruz will be the keynote speaker at BBQ on Saturday, and other legal heavy hitters includes Jeremy Rabkin and Richard Epstein. If you’re a UT student (or just interested in the subject) I’d encourage you to attend.
Posts Tagged ‘University of Texas’
Federalist Society Symposium at UT Featuring Ted Cruz
Wednesday, February 27th, 2013UT Evacuated Due to Bomb Threat
Friday, September 14th, 2012The University of Texas has evacuated campus due to a possibly Jihad-related bomb threat.
At 8:35 a.m. the university received a call from a male with a middle eastern accent claiming to have placed bombs all over campus. He said he was with Al Qaeda and these bombs would go off in 90 minutes.
Well, it’s two hours later and no boom. There’s a 99% chance this is an empty threat, since it’s always easier to pick up a phone than to actually make a bomb, as severald dead members of the weather underground can attest.
A similar threat was made at North Dakota State at Fargo.
Updated to add: bomb threat also made at Valparaiso University. UT still still under evacuation warning.
Updated to add 2: UT classes cancelled today and all events cancelled until 5 PM. Buildings can be re-entered as of noon.
Updated to add 3: Add Hiram College in Ohio to list of schools receiving bomb threats. Pretty obscure for Jihadests. Maybe just copycats.
UT Law Dean Resigns Over Slush Fund Payouts
Friday, December 9th, 2011Keep in mind that’s not what the headline says, which is a more neutral “UT law dean forced to step down.” But what else do you call “a $500,000 forgivable loan” to UT Dean Larry Sager “at a time when deans, vice presidents and other top university officials were under a salary freeze”? When you give people money they don’t have to pay back, that’s not a loan, that’s a gift. (I also wonder whether Dean Sager declared this money on his taxes. Or did he not have to, because it was a “loan”?) And slush fund seems to be the proper term for a fund from which sums can be doled out without administrative accountability.
Or, to put it another way: If it were revealed that University of Texas head football coach Mack Brown had such a fund, to receive funds from or to dole out at his discretion, not only would we be calling it a slush fund, he would be fired, National Championship notwithstanding. Should the UT Law School be held to a lesser standard than the UT Athletics Department?
No wonder the Texas Public Policy Foundation continues to advocate for lower administrative costs in higher education, among many other needed reforms. This most recent incident shows such reform is still badly needed.
(Hat tip: Tax Prof Blog via Instapundit.)
Shooting on UT Campus
Tuesday, September 28th, 2010There’s been a shooting on UT campus in Austin. Details are sketchy, but:
- The shooter is dead of apparently self-inflicted gunshot wounds in the Perry-Castaneda Library (UT’s main library, and a pretty big one).
- The campus is closed and on lock-down.
- Police are “looking for a second shooter” due to conflicting descriptions of the gunmen. If past shooting sprees are any indication, there won’t be one.
- UT’s own information system says no other injuries reported.UT was, of course, the site of Charles Joseph Whitman’s sniper killing spree, the largest until the Virginia Tech shooting.
- I am unable to find any evidence that UT has declared itself a “gun free zone.” UT’s policy states that it prohibits “Displaying a weapon or an object which appears to be a weapon in a threatening manner; carrying a firearm of any kind onto University owned or controlled property (except those permitted by state law or University policy); or using a weapon to harm someone.” “Except those permitted by state law” would suggest that a CHL permit holder could lawfully carry on campus itself, although I am unclear which buildings on campus may have signage stating that such carrying is prohibited. Edited to add: Not necessarily; see comments.
This would be a good time to revisit Karl Rehn’s advice on what to do if faced with an “active shooter.”
Updated to add: Ironically, John Lott, the author of More Guns, Less Crime, was scheduled to speak on UT campus at 6 PM today. Probably just one of those strange coincidences the universe throws up from time to time…
Edited to add 2: Here’s a live update blog. I’d take everything you read there with a grain of salt, especially reports of a tank on campus and the shooter having an “AK-47.” Possible, but remember this handy chart:
Edited to add 3: KXAN is reporting that it was an AK-47, the shooter as a 6’2″, 200 pound guy wearing a suit and tie, and that witnesses report he didn’t seem to be shooting at people so much as firing into the ground.
Edited to add 4: Here’s the live Austin police radio feed. Prepare to be bored stiff…
Edited to add 5: UT has given the all-clear, but the campus is still closed for the day. As predicted, police don’t think there’s a second gunman.
Edited to add 6: Shooter has now been identified as 19-year old math major Colton Tooley.
