A Message from President Damphousse

Fellow Bobcats: 

I awoke this morning to a series of text messages that included photos of hateful messages that had been spray-painted by vandals on several buildings across our beautiful San Marcos Campus. I will not magnify their message by sharing them here.   

I want to make clear that vandalism of our campus buildings is a crime, and I have asked our UPD to launch a full investigation.

Not only are these actions a violation of state law and a tremendous waste of university resources, they also attempt to undermine the Bobcat values that we hold dear. Worse, they make some members of our student body, faculty, and staff feel unsafe. That is anathema to what a college campus must be. While I firmly defend our right to engage in free speech, there is no place for criminal actions like this on our campuses. I cannot (and will not) tolerate it.  

As soon as our facilities teams discovered the hateful graffiti, they began the arduous task of removing it as quickly as possible. I urge anyone with information related to these crimes to reach out to UPD at 512.245.2805. 

Kelly Damphousse
President