Republican nominee Bo French, who is running for Texas Railroad Commissioner, sparked a firestorm of criticism on his X account after posting a crowd shot from a University of Texas at Austin football game. In his post, French claimed the image showed a campus overwhelmed by foreign‑born or international students, suggesting that Texas families were being edged out of admissions.
University data refutes the claim
University of Texas at Austin enrollment figures for the fall 2025 semester tell a different story. The school reported a total enrollment of 55,000 students, of which 5,140 are international students – less than 10 percent of the student body. Texas residents make up 80.5 percent of all enrolled students. For the undergraduate class, international students account for only 4.3 percent, and a state law requires that at least 90 percent of each incoming freshman class be Texas residents.
The university’s admissions policy automatically admits the top 5 percent of performers from every Texas high school, ensuring that the majority of admitted students are home‑state residents. As a result, more than four out of every five students at UT Austin are Texans, and more than 90 percent are domestic students.
Critics label the post as xenophobic
French’s remarks were condemned by members of both parties and by several social‑media users who called the post racist or xenophobic. Rodney Coates, a sociology professor at Miami University in Ohio, said French’s comments echoed long‑standing anti‑immigrant narratives that portray minority groups as threats to opportunities for others. “It’s easier to come up with a racist argument to organize a group of people under the presumption that, hey, they’re hurting your chances,” Coates said.
UT Austin’s demographic breakdown
University reporting separates race and ethnicity from international‑student status. In the 2024‑2025 academic year, white students comprised about 31.5 percent of enrollment, Hispanic students 25.5 percent, and Asian students 22.4 percent. Most students identified as Asian are U.S. citizens or permanent residents, not international students.
Personal perspective from a recent graduate
Vedant Nair, a 2024 graduate of UT Austin, said his family’s story is typical of many Texans. Born in Oklahoma City to parents who immigrated from Mumbai, Nair moved to Dallas as a child and attended public schools there. He described his college experience as “a normal, American experience” and emphasized that, stripped of name and skin color, his story mirrors that of many other Texas students.
“If you stripped away my name and skin color, I think my story is pretty similar to a lot of other Texans at massive public high schools,” Nair said. “The point is that myself, and all the other kids in that picture, are just regular American kids.”
Context of the football win
The image French shared was taken from a video posted by the official UT Austin athletics account during the team’s dramatic comeback victory over Ohio State University, the nation’s No. 1‑ranked team at the time. Nair praised the moment, saying, “I don’t think there is anything more American than people in cowboy hats yelling their heads off after one of the greatest comeback wins in college football history.”
Responses from the university and the candidate
University spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment, and French also declined to comment when approached for clarification.
The episode highlights a broader national debate over the perception that non‑U.S. citizens are “displacing” American students at elite public universities. While the discussion often fuels partisan rhetoric, the data from UT Austin demonstrates that the overwhelming majority of students are Texas residents and domestic citizens.
What this means for Texas voters
As Texas voters consider candidates for statewide offices, the incident serves as a reminder to scrutinize claims against verifiable statistics. For those who value transparency and factual accuracy, the university’s enrollment numbers provide a clear benchmark against which political statements should be measured.
Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
