Student loses government position for going on Fox News
The nominee had appeared on Fox News on behalf of Campus Reform to discuss 'The Eyes of Texas' controversy on campus.
'I think that is not necessarily someone who is going to be responsibly representing people at UT,' one student government member said.
At a recent student government meeting at the University of Texas at Austin, conservative student Sterling Mosley, who was nominated for a position on the student government, was called out by a leftist member and ultimately not approved to the position due to his personal political beliefs.
Mosley, a junior who is also a Campus Reform correspondent, had been nominated by a committee of student government members to be a university-wide representative. The members of the student senate were to vote at the end of the meeting to appoint Mosley to that position.
Campus Reform obtained audio from the official student government meeting.
After his nomination was announced, Representative Amanda Garcia, a community advocate coordinator in the student senate, provided a video in the Zoom meeting she found about Mosley’s recent appearance on Fox News.
In the interview, on behalf of Campus Reform, Mosley talked with Fox and Friends about the controversy regarding the school’s fight song, “The Eyes of Texas.”
Garcia expressed concern about Mosely’s opinions and stated, “He claims that ‘The Eyes of Texas’ does not have a racist backstory despite himself being a White man so not necessarily having like the right to talk about that.”
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When questioned by another student representative about if she had any more information on Mosley, Garcia said that Moseley was a member of the Young Conservatives of Texas and “a right-wing news source.”
Garcia continued on, noting “I know this is student government so we’re not supposed to get political or have political beliefs but if there’s an article of him on Fox News talking about and silencing the voices of marginalized students on campus trying to speak out against the racist song that is Eyes of Texas, I think that is not necessarily someone who is going to be responsibly representing people at UT.”
Mosley is involved in the Young Conservatives of Texas, a non-partisan conservative youth organization, which has been fighting for conservative values for more than 40 years in Texas. He is also a writer for The Texas Horn, a newspaper he co-founded to give conservative students on campus a voice.
According to higher-ranking members of the student senate, Mosley was unanimously nominated for his position due to his extensive experience in student government.
Those who nominated him, including the speaker of assembly for the student government, Braxdon Cannon, looked past Mosley’s personal political beliefs when making the decision.
Cannon encouraged fellow senate members to put aside their political beliefs when voting for the representative position for the campus.
Campus Reform reached out to Cannon for comment. While he chose to remain neutral on the outcome of the election due to his position as speaker, he did say, regarding Mosley’s nomination, “I was the one who reviewed his nomination, and with advice from my board, we all agreed he would be a great fit as a Representative.”
Mosley spoke to the open forum and student government body before the vote took place, stating, “I don’t think that my personal political beliefs should make me disqualified for the position.”
He then went on to explain his vision for student government which included investing and expanding language programs and study abroad and providing an alternative viewpoint to that which is held by the majority of the student government.
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When asked by Garcia if he thought “The Eyes of Texas” song was racist, Mosely explained, “If we believe that a symbol cannot evolve past its original setting, then by that logic, you would have to get rid of the American flag, the star spangled banner and other founding symbols.”
At the end of the process, a vote was taken to confirm Mosley with 14 members voting no, 10 voting yes, and multiple representatives abstaining from voting.
“I wasn’t personally angry. I was disappointed that they were unwilling to consider different perspectives,” Mosley told Campus Reform.
”This was one of the first times that someone who openly brought a conservative perspective had a chance to be on student government,” Mosley continued. “The rejection showcases that even when given the opportunity, they were unwilling to accept people into student government who have countervailing opinions”.
Campus Reform reached out to Amanda Garcia, the student government, and the University of Texas at Austin for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.
