AUSTIN — Two emotions dominated the flagship University of Texas campus this week: rampant joy at the win the Longhorns pulled off against Ohio State last Saturday and anger over the racist post by a Republican candidate targeting South Asian students celebrating in the stands.
“It’s a little more painful because it could have been me in that picture,” Aryan Harkawat, 20, a computer science major from Austin, said this week. “It used to be directed at immigrants. Now it’s second generation. It kind of removed me from thinking: ‘If you just keep your head down, you’ll be okay.’”
The picture Harkawat was referring to showed a group of exuberant South Asian students, dressed in Longhorn burnt orange and cowboy hats, rejoicing at the stunning fourth-quarter comeback over Ohio State, the nation’s top-ranked college football team.
Bo French, a candidate for state railroad commissioner who has advocated for mass deportation and denaturalization of immigrants, posted the photo on X. “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this,” French wrote. “The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.”
The blowback was immediate and bipartisan. Outgoing Republican Sen. John Cornyn condemned the post, as did GOP strategist Karl Rove, who vowed to vote for French’s Democratic opponent.
The response to French on the Austin campus was equally bipartisan and negative. Students and faculty who spoke with The Washington Post said the school’s diversity is both a long-standing strength and a reflection of Texas itself.
The UT chapter of Turning Point USA, the conservative student group founded by the late Charlie Kirk, released a statement saying, “Every Longhorn should be judged by their character, their values, and their actions — not their ethnicity.”
I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined. pic.twitter.com/Ys1bql0y4U
— Bo French (@bofrench) September 13, 2026
Senior Dhairya Gupta appeared at the bottom of the photo French reposted, wearing a burnt orange T-shirt, his arm extended in the “Hook ’em Horns” sign.
“When I look at that picture, I don’t see a problem,” Gupta told the Texas Tribune.
Gupta said that while he was concerned about French’s post and its supporters, he was encouraged to see fellow Longhorns on social media vocally defending him and other students pictured.
French, who attended UT for three years before transferring and graduating from Texas Christian University, won his competitive primary in March and has become among the loudest anti-immigrant voices in the Texas GOP, calling into question who qualifies as Texan. That matters deeply in a state that is rapidly growing and diversifying, yet still prides itself on its exceptionalism.
Almost nowhere is that more evident than the UT flagship campus, among the largest and most diverse in the country with 55,000 students, more than 44,000 of them undergraduates. The 40 Acres, as the campus is called, is a bastion of liberal thinking in Texas.
But in recent years, the university has come under repeated attack from state GOP leaders, who passed laws limiting protests; banning diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives; and reshaping the curriculum to eliminate teachings about race and gender.
“Certain students do not feel like they belong. Certain students feel like they are under attack. And that circle of students is expanding,” UT professor Maria Cotera said after a town hall meeting with students Thursday to discuss the state curriculum and leadership overhaul.
On campus this week, there were no protests over French’s posts, but online forums were roiling with outrage from students and alumni.
“Even though it doesn’t translate into protests, in almost every conversation I have with my Asian and non-Asian friends it’s come up,” said Nari Choi, 19, a Korean American sophomore from Austin whose friends were at the game. She noted that about a quarter of the student body is Asian, and the campus — like Texas itself — is majority minority.
Junior Sydney Brown, 20, of Dallas said French’s post can’t dampen her enthusiasm after attending “the best game of my life.” From her seat in the 11th row of the 13,000-seat student section, Brown said, she saw a diverse mix of classmates, and she initially found French’s post “confusing.”
“News flash: It’s part of our student population,” Brown said as she sat near the Kriya Matcha Café food truck playing cards with freshman Dashvi Jarodiya, 18, also from North Texas.
Instead of intimidation, Brown said, the feeling among students she knows is “keep showing up” — and Jarodiya agreed, saying she now plans to attend a football game.
Satvik Agarwal, 20, a South Asian student from Austin whose friends were at the game, said he was concerned about being targeted by those who share the candidate’s views: “I’d be more cautious going to a game.”
At the nearby Speedway pedestrian mall, where students set up tables to attract attention to their various causes, two students considered French’s post.
“It was disgusting and overly exaggerated. We’re a very diverse campus,” said Sadhana Guruprasad, 18, who identifies as queer and Christian and was campaigning for student government at UT after she said she “found my people.”
Guruprasad said she was accustomed to such attacks because she comes from Frisco, a North Texas city with a large South Asian community that also experienced a spike in hate speech from conservatives leading up to this year’s mayoral election.
“At first, the issue was ‘you’re not assimilating,’” she said of attacks on immigrants, but now French is even assailing students born in Texas who chose to attend a state school and partake in a time-honored Texas tradition.
“What more do you want from us? They’re cheering, screaming for UT, they’re Longhorns, they’re as UT as anyone else,” she said.
Nodding across from her, Zall Arvandi, 20, a libertarian “right winger” transfer student from the University of South Florida, noted that state law requires that 90 percent of UT students be from Texas. Arvandi said that as the child of Armenian and Iranian immigrants, French’s post “really affected me personally.”
“There are arguments to be made about immigration, but not with racism,” said Arvandi, who founded the UT chapter of Young Americans for Liberty and sued to block the state law limiting protests last year. Now he said the climate on campus is more hostile to debate.
“There’s a lot of America First people around who are more vulnerable to listening to Bo French,” he said. “Some people on the right call me a foreigner and say, ‘You don’t have a right to say anything.’”
Some students registering to vote this week volunteered their anger about the French post, while others said they were unaware of it, said junior Alec Schwartz, a 20-year-old Democrat.
“Because of the algorithms in our feeds, some of us don’t see it, and others only see it,” he said.
Minami Krembs, 21, a Japanese American senior from Frisco, has a season ticket to UT football games. Krembs said she and other students “are really appalled and angry that university leadership haven’t condemned” French’s post.
Kevin Eltife, chair of the UT Board of Regents, posted in response to French’s comments without naming or condemning him.
“When I stood on the sidelines at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium Saturday night and looked up at the seats filled with incredible fans, I saw Longhorns. It’s the same remarkable view I have at graduation ceremonies and anytime I’m on campus. I’m proud to celebrate all our Longhorn students today and every day. Thank you for making us proud,” he wrote.
UT Austin President Jim Davis responded to French’s post by saying that the university’s students are exceptional and “all of them are Longhorns.”
Krembs worried that South Asian students may face further harassment, and she planned to attend Saturday’s game in solidarity. She said she may even bring a sign if she can figure out how to comply with the state’s new law limiting campus protests.
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