Longhorn band won’t perform Saturday after asking members if they would play ‘The Eyes of Texas’

The University of Texas Longhorn Band will not perform at the Texas-Baylor football game this weekend due to an apparent lack of members willing to play the school’s song, “The Eyes of Texas.”

The Daily Texan reported that a survey of band members showed that the band did “not have the necessary instrumentation” to play the song, with band director Scott Hanna saying in a message reported by the school newspaper that the band will therefore “not participate in Saturday’s game.”

The university said in a statement reported by a local NPR affiliate that it is working with band members “to maintain the musical traditions of The University of Texas, including ‘The Eyes of Texas.’”

The song came under fire over the summer when student athletes and others called on the university to drop the song amid Black Lives Matter protests across the country. Critics noted that the song was originally performed at a minstrel show with performers in blackface.

“The Eyes of Texas,” which was created in the early 1900s, parodies former UT President William Prather, who had drawn inspiration from Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s often-used saying that “the eyes of the South are upon you,” according to Texas Monthly.

The school said in July that the song would stay, but announced that it would move to rename certain spaces on campus and take other steps to honor civil rights advocates.

The dean of UT’s College of Fine Arts, Douglas Dempster, had said in a memo last month that the school band was “expected” to play the song, while acknowledging that members were divided.

He urged “a dialogue among students in the band about moving forward together on this issue.”

The band director said in the message reported by The Daily Texan that band members remain “fairly evenly divided in opinion,” adding, “Moving toward resolution takes time and sustained effort.”

The announcement comes after several team members stood and sang “The Eyes” after Texas’ game against Oklahoma earlier this month, including quarterback Sam Ehlinger. A Change.org petition calling for people to support the quarterback and the song has been signed by more than 9,700 people.

Editor’s note: This story was updated on Oct. 23 with additional attribution to The Daily Texan, which first reported the story. A previous version has been removed.