University bashes military ‘bro culture’ on Veterans Day in student ad

The University of Texas (UT) at Austin boasted about ridding the campus of student veteran “bro culture” common in the military in an attempt to appeal to former service members on Veterans Day.

The university posted an ad on Instagram Monday titled “Turning the Page,” in which UT Austin proclaimed to be the best university in Texas to help integrate veterans into civilian life by eliminating their “ultramasculine” mindset.

“Helping student veterans get past ‘bro culture’ and integrate back into civilian life is just one reason UT at Austin has become a top university for ex-warriors,” the post reads. “One thing that makes UT a top institution for veterans is how it helps them adjust to civilian society.”

The post goes on to say that the university helps to build a community that student veterans might be missing since leaving the military.

“There’s no stronger fraternity than the military,” Jeremiah Gunderson, director of UT’s Veteran and Military Affiliated Services, said in the ad. “I wanted to create an inclusive culture that responded to the needs of everybody. It’s an opportunity to build that community, but this isn’t bro vet culture either. You’re not in the military anymore. You don’t treat people like that. You don’t talk like that.”

Gunderson recalled previously getting “chewed out” by members of UT Austin’s women veterans group who claimed the office had perpetuated “an ultramasculine, sometimes misogynistic, mindset” and complained of the male student veterans “hitting on” them.

“A lot of other student veteran offices have camo netting everywhere,” Gunderson said. “We try to go in a different direction and say, ‘You have all this valuable experience in the military; you’ve done things that most Americans haven’t done and seen. But now you need to leave that behind.’”

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law in 2023 banning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices and initiatives at higher education institutions, forcing the state’s universities to also abandon programs that favor individuals on the basis of race, gender, or ethnicity. UT Austin has laid off dozens of DEI employees in response.

Gunderson and UT did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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