Vol. 65, Issue 11
Est. 1981
April 11 - April 18, 2023
THE PAISANO
Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio Community /PaisanoOnline 1 | News
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5 | Arts & Life
Traveling ‘street preacher’ draws counter-protesters, UTSA PD and Dean of Students
Jonathan Porter/The Paisano
By Mason Hickok Editor-in-Chief
S
tudents passing through the Sombrilla last week likely encountered a commotion stirred on by a traveling, self-proclaimed “street preacher.” Daniel John Lee set up a large sign and engaged with students Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoon. Lee’s visit to UTSA comes on the heels of his visiting Texas State and Texas A&M within the last few weeks. With most of his college visits, Lee posts videos of his demonstrations to his Rumble profile. Rumble is an alternative social media platform often in conversation alongside TruthSocial and
Parler. At one point in Lee’s nearly four hour video, Dean of Students and Senior Vice Provost for Student Affairs LT Robinson approached Lee and asked to confiscate the pole attached to the sign. Lee refused, and later, Robinson returned with several UTSA police officers. Lee eventually gave his pole over while he remained engaging with students. Viktor Östberg was one of the students present during Wednesday’s demonstration; at one point in the video, Östberg can be seen holding up a Secular Student Alliance sign next to Lee. They described Lee’s demeanor during the demon-
stration as relatively calm. “It could be why he was so calm that day was there were just so many people,” Östberg said. Östberg described the general unhappiness from students with Lee’s presence. “I think it just didn’t quite hit me [until] later in the day [after] I left,” Östberg said. “Being like, ‘that could have gone bad.’ People were not happy he was there.” Students were concerned with Lee’s criminal history, but per Senate Bill 18 on the avenue protecting expression on campus, UTSA’s Sombrilla Plaza would be considered a public forum.
A note from the Office of the President speaks to one’s freedom of expression: “Of course, the ideas of different members of the university community will often and quite naturally conflict. But it is not the proper role of the university to attempt to shield individuals from ideas and opinions they find unwelcome, disagreeable, or even deeply offensive.” Joe Izbrand, UTSA’s chief communications officer, said the university knew Lee’s intent to visit the campus. “UTSA was aware of Mr. Lee’s intention to visit multiple universities, including UTSA,” Izbrand said. “The university was also aware of his history
Dean of Students LT Robinson (pictured) addressed students on Wednesday.
and was properly prepared to ensure his right to free speech while maintaining the safety of the university community.” Robinson encourages students to exercise good judgment when it comes to interacting with demonstrators. “Some speakers who come on campus may espouse extreme views in the hopes of getting a rise out of students,” Robinson said. “Then, if confronted for those views, they claim they were untreated fairly and their rights to free speech violated. Ultimately, their goal is to get attention for themselves. Ask yourself if you want to invest in their cause by feeding into that.”
Justice charter placed on May 6 ballot By Mia Lynn Contributor Proposition A, which would decriminalize abortion and lowlevel marijuana offenses, will be on the ballot in the upcoming San Antonio municipal elections. In addition to decriminalizing abortion and marijuana, Proposition A would ban chokeholds and no-knock warrants, make cite-and-release a permanent response to low-level misdemeanors and create a Justice Director position. Proposition A was created by the organization ACT 4 SA to mitigate racial bias, keep people out of jail for low-level crimes, and decriminalize abortion and marijuana use. This proposition was added to the ballot after ACT 4 SA submitted over 35,000 signatures from registered San Antonio voters who supported the initiative. “We’re really excited for what it means for the city,” Ananda Tomas, executive director of ACT 4 SA, said. “Besides winning the policy, it’s setting a direction for future policy forever.” “Now, our city leadership will never get to say that they don’t know how we feel or what direction we want to move in,” Tomas added. If enacted, this initiative would not legalize low-level marijuana use or abortion since legalization occurs at the state level. Instead, Proposition A would deprioritize these issues and establish that the San Anto-
nio Police Department (SAPD) is not responsible for enforcing these laws. Similarly, enforcing citation and release would mean that those charged with non-violent misdemeanor crimes would be given a citation instead of being taken to jail. Additionally, this initiative would ban the SAPD’s use of chokeholds and ban no-knock warrants except in extremely dangerous cases. Finally, although many of these reforms are currently practiced by the SAPD, this initiative would make them permanent, even if a new sheriff with conflicting views was hired. “I think it’s a good step forward for the city,” senior Christopher Garana, a member of UTSA’s chapter of Texas Rising, said. “The important thing is getting things codified, especially with the cite and release, banning chokeholds, and any of the no-knock warrants.” Registered San Antonio voters will be able to vote on Proposition A on May 6 at their respective polling locations or vote early. Early voting will start on April 24 and continue until May 2. “Young people have the ability to turn out in this election like they never have before and make their voices heard,” Tomas said. “We will win or lose depending on the amount of young folks that go out and vote for this.”
“I think it’s a good step forward for the city.”
Chloe Williams/The Paisano
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