It’s a quiet and gloomy day out today. About 16 folks are gathered at UT Austin, they’ve laid out tarps to cover the wet grass.

There was a larger event scheduled today, but it got moved to Sunday. Lots of UT admin and police patrolling the area.

👏👏👏Grace has shown up unprompted and unafraid to help us out on the ground in between finals. She's not even graduating yet but, bosses, she's ready for your newsroom.

.Senator John Cornyn in a press conference this morning, condemning pro-Palestine student protest.

“The mainstream media would have you understand or somehow suggest that these are students… nearly half of those are not students at these institutions.”

Organizers have postponed this protest until May 5

BREAKING: Twenty protesters gathered at UT President Jay Hartzell's home around 7:30 p.m. State troopers and APD observed nearby. The group disbanded at 10 p.m., citing a city ordinance.

Last I heard he was out of town

NOW: CapMetro is closing bus stops near the South Mall at UT Austin for Wednesday - ahead of what could be the largest demonstration yet by pro-Palestinian protesters.

UT tells me they are fully operational tomorrow and prepared for whatever comes. At the same time, department heads are warning staff to work from home.

The notice below, sent out to govt department students and staff tonight.

We’ll be on scene all day tomorrow

NEW: The chair of the University of Texas board of regents sends a statement saying “we will continue to call upon DPS to secure our campuses when needed.”
👇👇👇

A UT employee tells me the university told staff who work in buildings adjacent to the south lawn and tower to work from home tomorrow. Those buildings will be locked down and closed to the public.

UT administration officials point to this event with concern, planned for tomorrow on the South Lawn. There are already barricades separating the lawn from the center mall and blocking off the tower building

Not much to report from UT today. A peaceful, quiet gathering on the lawn.

NEW: A felony charge against a Fox 7 Austin photographer have been dismissed, his attorney, Gerry Morris confirms. The DPS detective in the case withdrew a warrant after acknowledging it did not allege a felony crime but could later resubmit it later, Morris said.

New: 46 of 77 people arrested at UT yesterday were not students, a UT official tells KXAN.

Texas House Democrats received this memo from caucus director Ali S. Zaidi describing UT’s police response as “unacceptable and reprehensible.”

“We fear that the rights as well as the safety of students will be further in jeopardy as protests continue.”

TMF

Travis County Jail confirms 79 people were arrested at the UT protests yesterday.
78 charged with criminal trespassing
1 charged with interfering with public duties

A statement from UT: “UT and partner law enforcement agencies dismantled an encampment and arrested several protesters. Baseball size rocks were found strategically placed within the encampment. The majority of protesters are believed to be unaffiliated with the university.”

This was just posted to Instagram by the group behind UT’s protest. Apparently putting the encampment back up now that most police have left