AG Paxton probes UNT for ignoring directive to investigate students who celebrated Kirk's murder, vandalized TPUSA table
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has opened an investigation into the University of North Texas for failing to look into claims that students celebrated Charlie Kirk’s murder and that a professor singled out a conservative student who objected.
Paxton contends that the individuals involved may have violated the school’s code of conduct and employee ethics policies.
A Texas university is under review for ignoring a directive to investigate anti-conservative bias on its campus.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is set to investigate the University of North Texas for failing to take “disciplinary action against those who celebrated the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the [university’s] reluctance to adequately protect the brave student who stood against her classmates to defend the value of life, the attack on the TPUSA chapter’s table on campus, and the reported radical left organizations’ activities at UNT,” according to an Oct. 16 letter from his office to the school’s president.
The letter refers to an incident in which Mary-Catherine Hallmark, a conservative student was seen on camera standing up to her classmates for celebrating Charlie Kirk’s murder in a lecture. When she pushed back, the professor singled her out and told her to “take this outside,” FOX San Antonio reported.
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Hallmark alleges her concerns were later dismissed by other faculty members, including the department chair and dean of students.
Paxton previously sent a letter on Sept. 19 requesting that UNT “expand its investigation into the students who engaged in the outrageous actions depicted in this video to include the professor who ratified that conduct by acting discriminatorily against the complaining student, and the process employed by staff.”
According to the letter, hostility toward conservative groups is also on the rise at the school. One incident mentioned in the letter describes a TPUSA chapter’s materials being shredded during a tabling event.
Moreover, Paxton said leftist student groups, such as the American Iron Front, have begun espousing violent rhetoric against conservatives. He said it “claims Republicans are pursuing a fascist agenda” and “promotes ‘direct action’ against ‘authoritarian and anti-democracy groups.’”
The attorney general’s office says it will now “launch an investigation into the university’s approach to left-wing violence on campus in general,” and “pursue every legal option” to stop organizations that advocate violence.
The school has indicated it will cooperate with the attorney general’s review.
”The University of North Texas holds the safety of its students as a primary responsibility and takes the allegations reported to Attorney General Paxton seriously,” officials remarked in a statement. “UNT will cooperate fully with the Attorney General’s investigation, and will continue the university’s thorough review of the matter while respecting the confidentiality of those processes.”
All relevant parties have been contacted for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
