Campus Reform: Texas Tech University

The Young Conservatives of Texas at Texas Tech are mounting a campaign to educate fellow classmates and take on the University administration over a prominent sculpture displayed proudly on campus known as the "Tornado of Ideas."

The sculpture was produced in 2004 by Tom Otterness, an artist that is well known for controversy.  The sculpture is made up of a tornado of many books that is tearing apart what appears to be the White House.  After carefully reviewing all of the books, the Young Conservatives have calculated that there is a strong liberal bias in the statue that was purchased directly with university funds at the cost of $142,000 when the Student Union Building was renovated in 2004.  The university claims the tornado is representative of conflicting ideals that make up America.

In addition to a majority of the books being classified as “liberal” or “anti-American”, there are cartoon figures placed throughout the sculpture that are not representative of Texas Tech or America in any way.  Central to our argument is a cartoon-like figure of our mascot, the Masked Rider, holding a javelin, attempting to sodomize a police officer.  The book the figure is standing on is titled Thieves in High Places. At the base of the sculpture is two lesbian women standing arm-in-arm looking out at passers by.  On top of a book by the name of The Way Things Ought to Be is a woman staring at a man clinging to the edge of the sculpture about to fall to his death. 

Included in this work of "art" are many more inflammatory titles such as Soul on Ice. This book was written by a former Black Panther leader who was imprisoned for serial rape, which he called "revolutionary." Many more questionable titles are included such as Quotations from Chairman Mao, who killed over 65 million people in China, as well as Das Kapital by Karl Marx.  Tucked neatly inside and out of sight is the Bible; the Koran is prominently displayed near the top.  There is no reference to any other religions in the sculpture, something we believe does not represent all the many religions we can freely practice in this country without persecution. 

In addition, there were ten books appearing on the sculpture more than once, with 90.48% with a classification of "liberal" and 9.52% as "neither." To the Young Conservatives, these books were more important than the others, as the artist intentionally selected them as duplicates.

This sculpture is nothing more than an election year political statement that our University paid for with our money.   Missing is writings from founding fathers like Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, but included are Michael Moore’s Dude Where’s My Country and The Terrorist Next Door-The Military Movement and the Radical Right. The University sells figurines of the cartoon Masked Rider, to which a portion of the profits goes directly to the sculptor.  This man is still making a substantial profit from students at the University for his piece of far left propaganda.

"The Young Conservatives of Texas at Texas Tech would like to see this sculpture removed immediately, and replaced with some sort of memorial to Colonel Rick Husband," said Jeff Morris, Tech YCT Chairman.  Col. Husband was a Texas Tech Alumni who was killed in the space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003.  “He died on a research mission for his country, and we believe there would be no better way to represent the Universities slogan: strive for honor. "It is our opinion this would represent the University much better than an artist from the Bronx can," said Morris.

The manner in which this sculpture was purchased concerns our organization even more, as we feel there was not appropriate student input in how university funding was spent.  The University allocates one percent of the total building costs of any new project to the purchase of public art, to which they require various committees and community input. It appears these two things are missing from the commissioning of the "Tornado." The University is currently in the construction phase of a new Business Administration building, and the Young Conservatives would like to see that all of the proper Board of Regents rules are followed before more than $700,000 of student's tuition money is spent on any form of public art.

When you visit the Texas Tech campus, you will see large bronze statues such as the Masked Rider, University founder Preston Smith, and Will Rogers on his famous horse Soapsuds. The Young Conservatives of Texas at Texas Tech strongly believe that the "Tornado" has no place on our campus next to these representative statues of Texas Tech.  "We pay to attend this school, and the school is financed in part by tax dollars. There is no reason why they should purchase art that in no way represents the University or its ideals, and to do it without proper input from the people who are paying for it is an outrage," said YCT Texas Tech Vice Chairman Ryan Scott. 

To support our group please go to http://www.techyct.org, or to support our petition for the removal of the statue, please go to http://tinyurl.com/tornado-petition