Owen Shroyer Comes to Texas State

Owen Shroyer, of infowars.com, reading the article “Your DNA is an abomination,” published in the November 28 issue of the Texas State University Star, aloud over a megaphone in front of the stallions on the campus of Texas State University.

by Joshua Truksa

Owen Shroyer, of infowars.com, made an appearance at Texas State to protest the publication of a controversial article in the University Star on November 28. The article, which has gained national attention, is entitled “Your DNA is an abomination,” was written by opinions columnist Rudy Martinez, a philosophy major, and has gained national attention. The Washington Examiner, Fox News, and RT all picked up the story within a few days of publication. Despite the article never having been published on the University Star’s website, the Fox News article published two pictures of Martinez’s column in which the entire article is readable with some effort.

The article was described as “racist” by Texas State University president Denise Trauth, who said in an email statement that “the column’s central theme was abhorrent and is contrary to the core values of inclusion and unity that our Bobcat students, faculty, and staff hold dear.”

Connor Clegg, student body president, expressed disappointment that students are forced to pay, with student fees, for a publication which would publish such an article, and has even threatened to defund the Star.

Upon arriving on the campus of Texas State, Shroyer first went to the Trinity Building, which houses the University Star. The Star issued a statement regarding the article, but when Shroyer received no personal reaction he proceeded to the quad where he read the entire article aloud using a megaphone, then interviewed students.
Passers-by gave their opinion of the article.

Hannah Felske, a photographer for the Star, said she’s worried about Student Body President Connor Clegg’s threat to defund the paper.

“If we lose funding that means no more camera equipment, no more upgrading the technology, no more printing, no more actually giving news to the students that matters,” Felske said.

Others said a major problem with the article was its delivery.

“I thought the title was strange,” said psychology major Taylor Lofton. “I thought it was very prejudiced to say that someone’s DNA is an abomination.”

“I think the headline itself was a bad approach,” said psychology major Anna Konditi.

“I think the article itself was very informative and I think that a lot of people are just looking at the fact that the title of the article was so problematic and they’re not actually looking at the words,” Konditi said. “If you actually read it a lot of it says that the fact that- when you look at the word race and what it means itself, there are no pure races. There are- everyone has a mixture of, kind of, different ethnicities and things of that nature and so they’re saying the concept of being white, the concept of white supremacy and the privilege that you have with having that identity is itself an abomination because the systematic and institutionalized superiority that white people get by just having that identity that they claim is what’s putting all these other marginalized communities in a supressed state.”

“I thought [the article] was completely offensive. I thought it was a complete lack of respect for anything,” said Jake Reinhardt, political science sophomore.

The Trinity Building has been on lockdown since the publication of the article. Rudy Martinez, editors of the University Star and the University Star itself have received threats since the article’s publication, including death threats.

On Tuesday, after receiving a large amount of correspondence from students, alumni, and other Texans expressing concern about the publication of the article, the University Star dedicated two pages to letters to the editor.

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