A communist anti-fascist action group at the University of Texas, Austin recently threatened conservative students with assault after the Young Conservatives of Texas, or YCT, mocked the group’s attempt at implementing mob justice for a UT Austin professor.
After Professor Robert Reece was accused of sexual misconduct, Revolutionary Student Front – Austin, the school’s self-avowed communist antifa group, advertised an event slated for May 10th titled, “The People v. Robert Reece.” They sought to take justice into their own hands in the form of a “People’s Trial” at UT Tower on campus.
On the day of the event, however, the trial did not take place and no explanation was given from RSF Austin, resulting in mockery from opposing student groups.
WE AS YOUNG CONSERVATIVES ARE ANNOUNCING A PEOPLE’S TRIAL AGAINST REVOLUTIONARY STUDENT FRONT FOR WASTING OUR TIME pic.twitter.com/zrD8Xek5wu
— TexasYCT (@TexasYCT) May 11, 2018
ON MAY 10th AT 6 PM RSF WAS SUPPOSED TO ENTERTAIN THE YOUNG CONSERVATIVES OF TEXAS BY LARPING AS JUDICIAL OFFICIALS AND PUTTING ON A MOCK TRIAL IN THE SAME WAY THIRD GRADERS PLAY DOCTOR SOMETIMES
— TexasYCT (@TexasYCT) May 11, 2018
INSTEAD WE WERE GREETED WITH NO SUCH TRIAL, AND MANY OF US TRAVELED AT LEAST A TEN MINUTE WALK FOR THE PURPOSE OF BEING ENTERTAINED DURING FINALS.
— TexasYCT (@TexasYCT) May 11, 2018
In response to Texas YCT’s mockery, RSF Austin tweeted at the group:
Y’all can be next up on the list for the Ritchie treatment. https://t.co/7JGgkc1Ts0 https://t.co/PiJl3fiPlo
— Revolutionary Student Front – Austin (@RSFAustin) May 11, 2018
The tweet included a link to another tweet referring to a recent incident of assault perpetrated by RSF Austin on an individual named Christopher Ritchie.
Neo-Confederate nerd Christopher Ritchie frequently shows up to campus to disrupt and livestream our events. Tonight, he showed up to disrupt the Reece trial and instead livstreamed his own ass getting jumped and his phone broken after attempting to follow two people off campus. pic.twitter.com/nDy8JBQbFy
— Revolutionary Student Front – Austin (@RSFAustin) May 11, 2018
RSF Austin responded to one commenter who said the video didn’t show anything.
The scuffle at the end of the video was when the phone was ripped away and livestream cut off. His shit talking while knowingly being surrounded by communists is worth the watch.
— Revolutionary Student Front – Austin (@RSFAustin) May 11, 2018
Texas YCT responded in another tweet, tagging the UT Austin and UT Austin Police Twitter accounts.
Oh look, commies threatening to steal stuff ? in other news, water is wet, the sun rises in the morning, and RSF are glorified pickpockets LARPing as revolutionaries. https://t.co/93rXiw99gU
— TexasYCT (@TexasYCT) May 11, 2018
Then the UT Dean of Students got involved.
If this involves any UT students, make a report to student conduct, including as much information as possible, here: https://t.co/qIDWEfDd6r
— UT Dean of Students (@utdos) May 11, 2018
RSF Austin countered with:
? just like Ritchie they’re already crying to the cops… do something y’all pic.twitter.com/zwmB1eVrbD
— Revolutionary Student Front – Austin (@RSFAustin) May 12, 2018
According to Saurabh Sharma, chairman of the Texas YCT chapter, RSF Austin’s threats are mostly hollow.
“They are largely a bark instead of bite group, they make large spectacles such as vandalism and spreading false accusations, however given the nature of the accusations it can often lead to firings or in the case of one professor, suicide,” Sharma told Red Alert Politics, referring to a recent case in which RSF Austin maligned a UT Austin Professor, who apparently committed suicide shortly thereafter.
“After we made a humorous tweet about the non-occurrence they threatened to steal members’ phones if they are seen in public, an action [RSF Austin] performed on a neo-confederate that was in attendance at the trial as well,” Sharma continued.
As far as action on the situation by the university, Sharma stated, “We have spoken to the University and they claim that their hands are tied from doing too much direct action but they seek to disincentive action by closely monitoring them. They are opposed to them because it can often lead to bad PR.”
Red Alert Politics reached out to the UT Austin Director of Strategic and Executive Communications Sara Kennedy, who told Red Alert that the school is “aware of the group ‘Revolutionary Student Front’” but that it “is not a registered student organization on our campus.”
“You can see that my office asked Young Conservatives of Texas to make a report to our office regarding threatening behavior… Our role is to uphold the university rules, and does not replace the need to call 911 anytime a student feels unsafe,” Kennedy stated.
