The Brief: UT Remembers Shooting as Campus Carry Takes Effect

The Big Conversation

Hundreds of people gathered at the University of Texas at Austin on Monday for a memorial service marking the 50th anniversary of the campus’ infamous tower shooting — and at the same time, some students walked uneasily through campus with the knowledge that the carry of concealed handguns is now allowed in school classrooms.

As the Tribune’s Matthew Watkins reports, Texas’ campus carry law went into effect at public colleges statewide on Monday, falling on the same day as the “somber ceremony” in remembrance of the 1966 massacre at UT-Austin, though “no one mentioned the coincidence” during the memorial. 

“There were few obvious signs that a new state law had taken effect allowing guns in university buildings,” at UT-Austin on Monday, Madeline Conway and Madlin Mekelburg write in the Tribune. “But some students and faculty members said the new law — which made Texas the eighth state in the country to allow campus carry — left them unsettled.”

Passed by the state Legislature in 2015, campus carry remains unpopular among professors and many students at UT-Austin. “People don’t really know how to talk about it,” said senior Cecilia Gomez, who opposes the law.

The Tribune has a run-down of the law with what you need to know.

Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.

Trib Must Reads

Family Kept in the Dark After Death at Texas Psychiatric Hospital, by Edgar Walters — When he began exhibiting signs of schizophrenia, Keith Clayton's family agonized over sending him to a state-run psychiatric hospital. Days after his arrival, the 55-year-old was dead — the victim of a restraint gone wrong.

Laredo Residents Oppose Toxic Landfill Proposal, by Aneri Pattani — Laredo residents are protesting a proposed landfill that they say will make their community a dumping ground for toxic waste from across the United States and Mexico.

Lawyers: Fetal Remains Rule Could Lead to Lawsuit, by Alexa Ura — In a new letter to the state, reproductive rights lawyers argue Texas' proposed rules requiring the cremation or burial of fetal remains "will almost certainly trigger costly litigation."

Amid Trump Attacks, Abbott Defends Fallen Muslim Soldier's Family, by Patrick Svitek — Gov. Greg Abbott is coming to the defense of a fallen Muslim soldier's family, which has been under attack from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

UT Students, Faculty on Timing of Campus Carry Law, by Alana Rocha and Justin Dehn — A new law allowing concealed handgun license holders to carry their weapons on state university campuses statewide takes effect Monday, the same day that marks 50 years since a student opened fire from the University of Texas Tower.

Mississippi High School Losing Longhorn, Keeping Aggie, by Isabelle Taft — At UT-Austin's request, a Mississippi high school will lose its longhorn logo. But it will keep its Aggie nickname and maroon and white colors, which school district officials called "a freak coincidence."

News From Home

•    Will Texans vote in November? Join us in August for a civic social weekend. The Texas Tribune is teaming up with the Society of News Design — and collaborators like you — to examine Texas’s low voter turnout rates, and what can be done to better engage and inform voters. Registration is free, but space is limited. See our event listing now to apply.

•    We're hiring. After nearly seven years of successful storytelling we’re considered the gold standard in nonprofit news, and we need you on our engineering team to help us refine and perfect our story-building process. For more details and requirements, click here.

Elsewhere

(Links below lead to outside websites; content might be behind paywall)

In rural Dallas County, a clash over the role of government, The Dallas Morning News

Answers hard to come by in hot air balloon disaster, San Antonio Express-News

Pilot was able to keep flying despite drunken-driving record, Austin American-Statesman

Nordheim loses fight as Railroad Commission OKs oil field landfill, San Antonio Express-News

State rejects calls to reduce child care ratios, Houston Chronicle

Campus carry fight far from over, as two UT schools at last minute allow faculty to ban guns in offices, The Dallas Morning News

Green Party headed to Houston for nominating convention, Houston Chronicle

CDC warns pregnant women against Zika-stricken part of Miami, The Associated Press

Quote to Note

“The violence that seized the campus began in the heart of one. Let this memorial remain — here in this campus and in our minds — as a reminder of the power we have at each moment to become a community of love, of reverence for life.” 

— Claire Wilson James, UT Tower shooting survivor, at a memorial service marking the massacre’s 50th anniversary

Today in TribTalk

50 years after UT Tower shooting, the memories return, by Jorge Reina Schement —  That anyone would be so bitterly cold-hearted as to enact the campus carry law on such a horrific anniversary overwhelms me — especially as it so profoundly dishonors every victim.

Trib Events for the Calendar

•   Life on the Border: Rhetoric or Reality? on Aug. 4 at The Centennial Club in McAllen

•   A Conversation with state Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa and state Reps. Terry Canales and Bobby Guerra on Aug. 26 at UT Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg

•   The Texas Tribune Festival on Sept. 23-25 at the University of Texas at Austin

•   TribFeast: A Dinner To Support Nonprofit Journalism on Sept. 24 at the University of Texas at Austin's Etter-Harbin Alumni Center

•   A Conversation with state Reps. Four Price and John Smithee on Oct. 4 at Amarillo College in Amarillo