AUSTIN, Texas — The century-old Texas Cowboys spirit group, suspended for six years in 2019 for hazing, is eyeing a sooner return to the University of Texas at Austin campus, according to a letter on its alumni web site, and UT officials appear poised to permit it through a new oversight program.
The group was investigated for hazing after the death of Nicholas Cumberland, who died in September 2018 following a car crash after attending an off-campus retreat.
UT found that the group engaged in hazing, alcohol misconduct and other harmful behavior.
According to a letter from Brian Antweil, president of the alumni board of directors, the group has been working with UT in recent months about returning through a new program UT is starting through the dean of students office.
The Nine Dimensions of Successful Student Organizations program provides monitoring of clubs and groups that have been suspended, including limiting the number of participants.
Groups that have been suspended could face membership limits and “increased oversight of recruiting and advising by the dean of students before full privileges are restored,” UT spokesman Mike Rosen said in the statement.
Rosen confirms to KVUE that the Cowboys are one of two groups that have sought to re-enter campus through that program through a "provision return" status. The other organization seeking a faster return to campus is Pi Kappa Phi, a fraternity UT suspended for four years in October 2019 for hazing, which included forcing members to eat cat food and chugging milk mixed with hand soap, the university found. The suspension is set to end in May.
No timeline has been established, and it is not clear what conditions the Cowboys might have to meet.
According to UT's website, an organization is able to apply for a provisional return through the dean of students if members have completed half the suspension and if members of the organization at the time of the original conduct have not had subsequent instances of misconduct.
The Cowboys are best known to UT fans for firing "Smokey the Cannon" at home football games. They handed that responsibility to the Silver Spurs Alumni Association, the group that cares for Bevo.
Antweil said in his letter that the suit recently was settled.
KVUE reached out to Cumberland's parents in Houston but did not receive a return phone call or email.