On March 19 in the Rapaporte Treasure Hall, Cameron Samuels ’25 gave a talk titled “A Seat at the Table: Storytelling, Policy and Law in a Precarious Higher Education Landscape,” sponsored by Brandeis’ Creativity, the Arts and Social Transformation department. The talk centered on the litany of conservative education policy that has impacted Samuels’ home state of Texas and their organization — Students Engaged in Advancing Texas — which is a student-led movement that has advocated for free speech in schools by opposing book bans and the removal of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives along with policies that target immigrant students.

Samuels described SEAT’s mission statement: “Everyone deserves a seat at the table.” SEAT works to promote student voices as “primary stakeholder[s] in education” and to “center youth visibility in policymaking.” They stressed the importance of youth engagement in democracy, especially during a “precarious time for higher education.” With this statement, Samuels displayed a photo that encapsulated the precarity they were referring to: a sign on campus at the University of Texas-Austin that read, “What starts here changes the world. It starts with you and what you do each day. Thank you for making it your Texas. Thank you for making it our Texas.” Next to the sign, a row of state troopers blocks the rest of the street from view. The photo was taken in April 2024 during a national wave of protests on college campuses calling for divestment from organizations affiliated with Israel. The troopers were called onto the university’s campus by state officials who “wanted to crack down on … these peaceful demonstrations within their rights.” UT-Austin was sued by two university alumni and two students at the time for allegedly violating their First Amendment rights. In discussing the state response to the protests Samuels asked, “What does that mean for the future of our higher education?” 

Samuels dubbed the litany of recent decisions that have impacted Texas’s education policy, “death by a thousand cuts,” drawing inspiration from the documentary “A Thousand Cuts,” produced by Ramona S. Diaz. The documentary follows Maria Ressa, a journalist who was critical of Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte after his election in 2016. She is a “huge inspiration” for Samuels at a time when the “authoritarian regime in the Philippines [has become] this blueprint for the United States.” Ressa also authored “How to Stand Up to a Dictator” in 2022.

Samuels elaborated on the impact of Texas legislature’s adoption of Senate Bill 17 in 2023, which outlawed DEI at higher education institutions. The bill resulted in the firing of diversity officers, closure of LGBTQ+ and women’s centers as and on-campus spaces for Black, Indigenous and people of color, the loss of grants and scholarships — many of which required a diversity statement for the application — and changes to syllabi. Samuels noted the swift and powerful response from Texas students, including student protests and advocacy from organizations like Texas Students for DEI. Many students used social media “not just [to] draw public attention, but to actually emphasize that everyone [had] a shared interest in protecting [them]. … This does affect everyone.”

They highlighted the work of a student newspaper at UT-Dallas, “The Mercury,” whose editor-in-chief Gregorio Olivares Gutierrez was removed after being accused of “malpractice” by the director of student media at the university Lydia Lum. The Mercury’s staff went on strike and claimed that Gutierrez was removed as a result of the paper’s coverage of a “pro-Palestinian encampment” on campus and the publication of editorials which criticized student arrests. The Mercury staff launched a new independent paper called “The Retrograde” which, as of November 2025, has a volunteer staff of 52 students and is primarily funded by donations.

“And so, why is this significant?” Samuels asked. They explained decisions made during Texas’ 2025 legislative session, which included the adoption of two more Senate bills and posed major changes to Texas’ education policy. The state only has a legislative session every other year and meets for 140 days to deliberate on bills. According to Samuels, lawmakers are often eager to pass bills within this time frame and, as a result, are likely to bypass concerns from fellow senators or constituents. “Texas is notorious for adopting laws that get sued, get litigated,” Samuels said. “These laws are imperfect and yet [Senators] just want their name on a bill.”

Senate bills 37 and 2972 were both passed in June 2025. SB 37 restructured the government’s role in higher education, granting “political appointees unprecedented oversight of the state’s public universities.” SB 37 would effectively give the governor indirect control over curriculum at public universities by developing committees that are authorized “to reject any course that is seen as ideologically charged or doesn’t align with workforce demands,” as reported by The Texas Tribune. The bill has received widespread criticism from organizations including The Texas American Federation of Teachers, who said that SB 37 poses “the most wide-reaching threat to academic freedom and collaborative governance in higher education that the Legislature has yet undertaken” and undermines faculty authority over what they can teach.

Samuels said they had planned to testify against SB 37 and had traveled back to Austin from Brandeis during its deliberation. However, registration for testifying constituents had closed prior to the session, though this was not standard practice. They cited the legislature’s reasoning for closing registration early and said they “didn’t want to hear from another UT student.” Samuels joined students and faculty from across the state who had similarly traveled to Austin to testify, recalling, “They created this archetype, this caricature of us, of being just these rowdy rebel-rousers that [didn’t] know anything.” Samuels and their colleagues participated in a “people’s hearing,” or an unofficial hearing where some senators listened to additional testimonies from people who hadn’t been able to speak during the session. 

SB 2972, which faced similar scrutiny from students and faculty at Texas institutions, limits all “expressive activity” on campus, including how, when and where individuals can participate in such activities. The most controversial provision of the bill outlaws “all expressive activities on public campuses from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m.” The law was quickly sued by student organizations, and Samuels questioned whether schools truly have the authority to limit this expression.

Samuels further elaborated on the repeal of the Texas Dream Act in June 2025, which allowed undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at public colleges and universities. SEAT joined a coalition of student-led organizations — including Texas Students for DEI — to bring people together for the National Day of Action on Nov. 7. They also helped organize a march starting at Huston-Tillotson University and heading to the Capitol in Austin. “And then we went inside the Capitol and we met with lawmakers. We walked into their offices, we sat down, we had these conversations, we talked about these laws and how they were impacting us,” Samuels said. “What was so important was before that march, we were building community … and using that to tell a story beyond what was happening in the moment.”

As of this February, UT-Austin will be eliminating several programs, including African and African Diaspora Studies; Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies; Mexican and Latino Studies and American Studies, by consolidating all four departments into a Social and Cultural Analysis department. These changes mirror recent attacks against the LGBTQ+ community, where transgender content and literature have been notably targeted. In August 2025, Texas A&M University fired Professor Melissa McCoul after a video of her teaching literature on gender identity went viral on X. Similarly, the student response was widespread. Texas A&M’s nonprofit, MOVE Texas, which stands for mobilize, organize, vote and empower, organized a protest on Sept. 22 in collaboration with other student groups to protest McCoul’s termination alongside the removal of other faculty members. 

In the midst of these restrictions in schools, Samuels emphasized the legacy of Mary Beth Tinker, a student activist who was famously involved in the 1969 Supreme Court Case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District after wearing a black armband to school in protest of the Vietnam War. After her suspension, the Supreme Court ruled in her favor and set a key precedent for students’ right to free speech in schools. SEAT continues to carry on the work of Tinker. “We’re continuing to organize in other schools for workshops and teach-ins and demonstrations as we build up to another day of action across the nation on May 1,” Samuels said. 

The presentation then transitioned into a discussion about SEAT’s advocacy, including its partnership with Texas Students for DEI, which raised over $20,000 to support students impacted by the repeal of the Texas Dream Act. The fund was distributed amongst 13 students and made up the difference in costs that exceeded the in-state tuition fees. Unfortunately, not every student who applied for funding was able to receive it. “We did hear from students saying that they did drop out of school. They were on student visas,” Samuels said. They continued, saying that it showed the tangible impact that policy and law can have on people, “and it’s really the stories behind this that you need to tell.”

Since 2023, SEAT has hosted an annual advocacy day. The organization has gathered 300 students in Austin from across Texas to talk to lawmakers and collaborate with each other. It has also been a “springboard” for student career development, and Samuels mentioned one instance of a student who was offered an internship from a lawmaker and started the next month. SEAT has also launched other initiatives, including a Mary Beth Tinker Federal Policy scholarship, an interactive student “power map” that provides information about school boards and how to sign up to speak, as well as a student “Bill of Rights.” Samuels wants students to know that they’re “not just leaders of tomorrow, but [they’re] changemakers of today.”

Samuels ended the discussion with a quote from Shirley Chisholm: “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”

In a March 20 interview with The Justice, Samuels spoke about how they co-founded SEAT in Texas and what it has meant to them. Samuels first started SEAT after advocating against book bans in Texas and joining journalists, policymakers and other students to distribute hundreds of banned books. “I was the only student in the room of my school board as a high school senior wanting to change policy that was impacting me … and it wasn't really a situation that I felt welcome in,” they said. Samuels and their collaborators named the group SEAT to represent the need for “a seat at the table” across school boards and in education policy in general.  

Samuels believes SEAT helps students develop storytelling skills: “I say that every student is the expert of their own lived experience. We are the ones in classrooms every day. We're the ones that these policies affect, and if we're not telling our stories, then the decision makers don't know what matters to us.” They see storytelling as a powerful tool of advocacy. “We can list out facts and statistics or current events and developments, but really what humanizes politics is stories.”

Samuels also spoke about the story of Cade Carter, a transgender student that they had worked with in advocating against anti-trans policy at school board meetings in Katy, Texas. Despite student advocacy, the policy was passed and required teachers to notify parents if their child requested to use a different name or set of pronouns than their birth certificate. As a result, many teachers stopped calling trans students, including Cade, by their chosen name. Cade eventually dropped out of school and is no longer a student. “He loves education … he wanted to succeed, and it was just that the school environment wasn’t a place to succeed,” they said. Through SEAT, Cade was able to connect with journalists to help lead rallies and community events that continued to advocate against harmful policies. 

When asked about how SEAT has impacted Samuels, they said, “I’m learning so much from all these students … and I think that’s a testament to how incredible these students are, that each and every day I’m inspired.” SEAT now boasts over 300 members and is a member of 15 coalitions involved in education advocacy. 

To young advocates, Samuels says, “Find your superpower. Everyone has one, and you can show up in the way that matters most. … Don’t do it alone.”