Live: UT-Austin professors plan protest with students, PSC calls for Hartzell's resignation

After more than 50 arrests were made at a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Texas on Wednesday, professors are planning to join students for another walkout Thursday.

The Palestine Solidarity Committee, the registered student organization and chapter of Students for Justice at Palestine, organized Wednesday's walkout and intent to take over the South Lawn by the Tower. They were immediately met by local police and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers. The state agency said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that it had responded to the campus at the request of the university and the direction of Gov. Greg Abbott.

Fifty-seven people had been booked into the Travis County Jail in connection to the protest, Travis County sheriff's office spokesperson Kristen Dark said Thursday morning.

All have had their charges disposed, Dark said, but it was unclear how many people had been released from the jail as of Thursday morning.

On Wednesday night, the Palestine Solidarity Committee posted a new call to "Stand with the Arrested, Stand with Gaza," urging both professors and students to head to the Main Mall at 12:15 p.m. Thursday, when a rally against a state ban on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at public universities was already planned.

Faculty echoed this call to walk out of classes and gather at the Tower in a statement from "concerned UT Austin Faculty" condemning Hartzell and leadership for the police response. They said the protest had no threat of violence and was supposed to be educational.

"We have witnesses police punching a female student, knocking over a legal observer, dragging a student over a chain link fence, and violently arresting students simply for standing at the front of the crowd," the statement, circulating on social media Wednesday, said. "By bringing militarized and armed forces onto our campus, and refusing to call them off even when ample evidence of police abuse and endangerment of students, you have made our campus community unsafe. You have put our entire student body at risk."

The Palestine Solidarity Committee has called for a ceasefire and for the university to stop investing in companies that they say profit from Israel’s invasion of Gaza. UT does not manage its own investments; those are handled by University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Management Company, which oversees investments for the University of Texas and Texas A&M systems.

The Palestine Solidarity Committee is also now demanding the resignation of UT President Jay Hartzell, saying the "horrific act of violent repression by UT" was a violation of the group's First Amendment rights.

The committee claims the number of arrests could exceed 50.

UT President Jay Hartzell sent a message to the campus community Wednesday night in which he did not acknowledge arrests, but thanked police and said UT "will not be occupied."

The faculty statement called for "no business as usual" on Thursday and urged all to gather.

This story will be updated throughout the day.

DEI rally postponed to make way for pro-Palestinian protest Thursday, organizers say

The Texas State Employees Union had planned a rally Thursday afternoon at the UT campus to protest the firing of dozens of staff members under Texas' anti-DEI law. But the union said in a statement Thursday that it is ceding the location and time of the rally to UT's Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine "to discuss the events yesterday." The DEI rally is postponed to Monday.

"We do not condone the arrests and actions of State Troopers on our campus during a peaceful protest," the union's statement said.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: UT-Austin professors, students plan to protest on campus: Live updates