AUSTIN, Texas — A controversial conference is set to be held on the University of Texas at Austin campus this weekend – and some students aren’t happy about it.
The Natal Conference will take place Friday from 5-9 p.m. and all day Saturday, with panels at both the AT&T Conference Center and the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. This is the movement’s second-ever conference after the first was held in Austin last year.
Reports show that this year’s conference features speakers with ties to eugenics – the pseudoscience theory that certain genetic traits are better than others for human evolution – and other racist rhetoric.
What is the Natal Conference and who is involved?
The conference is hosted by Natalism.org. The movement claims that humans “are living through the greatest population bust” in history and promotes increasing humans’ birthrate.
Natalism.org states that the conference has “no political or ideological goal other than a world in which our children can have grandchildren.” However, official speakers at the conference are linked to various politically far-right ideologies.
According to a report from The Austin Chronicle, Kevin Dolan – who organized the conference last year – was dismissed from a job as a data scientist in 2021 after being identified as the person behind a Twitter account known for posting racist and anti-immigrant content.
This year’s speakers include Jack Posobiec, a conservative influencer with alleged ties to neo-Nazis; Jordan Lasker, or Cremieux, a blogger who has openly questioned whether Ashkenazi Jews are as intelligent as non-Jewish white people; Razib Khan, who was fired from The New York Times after his work for a white supremacist website was made public; and Jonathan Keeperman, who has reportedly posted homophobic and racist content on X.
What is UT’s connection to this conference?
The AT&T Hotel and Conference Center, where the bulk of the event is being held, is located on UT’s campus and is officially connected to the university.
In a statement to The Austin Chronicle, a UT spokesperson said, “As part of a public university, the AT&T Hotel & Conference Center is bound by law to schedule events without discrimination of viewpoint consistent with the First Amendment.”
It is unclear how much organizers paid UT to rent the space. However, a report from The Guardian states that standard tickets to attend the conference were $1,000.
The event’s ticketing page says it is sold out and is no longer taking registrations.
UT students’ response
The Austin chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) announced that students and community members will gather at the Bullock Museum at 4:30 p.m. Friday to protest the Natal Conference.
The SDS claims that “despite widespread opposition, UT Austin has allowed the conference to proceed, providing a platform for speakers who promote racist pseudoscience and fascist ideology.”
The protesters are demanding that UT revoke the conference’s access to campus facilities, saying that allowing the event to continue “legitimizes dangerous ideologies and endangers students and the Austin community.”