Tony Buzbee, Texas universities react to White Lives Matter in Charlottesville, College Station





See photos of a Houston gathering to support and remember the victims of the Virginia violence over the weekend... less The Texas A&M drum corps and band plays on the A&M campus before the start of the Alabama game, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013, in College Station.



See photos of a Houston gathering to support and remember the ... more The Texas A&M drum corps and band plays on the A&M campus before the start of the Alabama game, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013, in College Station. Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 35 Caption Close Tony Buzbee, Texas universities react to White Lives Matter in Charlottesville, College Station 1 / 35 Back to Gallery

Texas university presidents and student groups expressed solidarity with the University of Virginia this weekend as deadly violence rocked Charlottesville when white supremacists gathered in the city.

Meanwhile, students and other university leaders are preparing for a rally that will hit closer to home: A former Texas A&M student announced on Saturday that he would host a White Lives Matter event in College Station on Sept. 11.

HoustonChronicle.com: Alt-right leader Richard Spencer to speak at Texas A&M

So far, Texas A&M's president has not issued a statement on the weekend's events -- or on how the university would prepare for another visit by Richard Spencer, whose racist rhetoric brought protests and school-sponsored alternative programming in December.

In a Facebook post, regent Tony Buzbee urged the A&M community to ignore the Sept. 11 event.

"It is a damn shame that our university, which sent more officers to fight the Nazis than all the service academies combined, would be tarnished with trash like him," he wrote. "In the end, the best way to deal with a lowlife like him is to ignore him."

Sen. Charles Schwertner of Georgetown said white nationalist groups "should be largely and consistently condemned by all responsible voices of our society."

He said he planned to publicly speak out against the event when the groups come to campus.

Students across the state have discussed joining Aggies in protest that day. In one Reddit thread, Texas students were asked to join a "Maroon Wall" event, in which participants would form a "silent, outward-facing wall around the plaza to protect our student."

Prairie View A&M University's student body president told the Chronicle on Sunday that students would march in Prairie View the day before the White Lives Matter event before going to College Station on Monday.

"We all should be unified," Kendric Jones, Prairie View A&M University's student body president, said Sunday. "It's how America came about."

LOCAL STUDENT: Houston vigil held to support Charlottesville victims

Over the weekend, Texas college leaders condemned violence in Charlottesville.

University of Houston President Renu Khator called the weekend "painful" in a post to Twitter. "Let's re-dedicate ourselves to creating a learning environment that is free from hatred, bigotry, racism (and) sexism."

"Racism and bigotry have no place in our democracy," University of Texas System Chancellor Bill McRaven wrote on Twitter.

Baylor University President Linda Livingstone issued a similar statement Sunday: "Racism has no place in our country nor in God's Kingdom," she wrote.

Student government presidents at UH and the University of North Texas signed onto a letter in solidarity with UVa.

"What affects one of our campuses affects us all," the student leaders wrote. "College campuses are spaces that students should be able to call home, not places of violence, hate and racism."