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19 youth leadership conference organized by CAIR-Texas from its Dallas campus, citing Gov. Greg Abbott's state-level designation of the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a foreign terrorist organization.
The "Unapologetically Muslim" event had been designed for high school students and rising college underclassmen, offering civic engagement training, mock testimony sessions, and power-mapping workshops.
A federal lawsuit filed by CAIR against Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton challenging that November 2025 designation remains active.
The conference was billed as a day of leadership development aimed at helping students identify and influence decision-makers in their communities, with the event page describing it as a chance to "get more involved in the issues affecting their communities." SMU confirmed the cancellation in a statement Tuesday, saying that permitting the event given Texas's current designation of its organizer "is inconsistent with our mission and related University policies." The university also said it "welcomes a wide range of organizations and perspectives to campus as part of our commitment to open inquiry and the free exchange of ideas," a line that sits awkwardly alongside the cancellation.
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