Boo hoo! It's funny how people are so quick to complain if there is anything remotely resembling a Christian symbol on something, but it would be seen by these very same people as very forward thinking if it had included some kind of Shinto design. While UT is not a Christian University, I am going to out on a limb here and venture to guess that the majority of its students are Christian. That it can be used by other faithes is great, but let's be honest here, it's not going to be used by the Zoroastrians. Something that tries to represent everything, represents nothing...just look at that awful excuse for a chapel at TIA. I've seen stores in the mall that have a greater sense of "sacred space" than that compass room or whatever it is suppose to be.
Oh here we go.
Actually, I wouldn't be shocked if Christians didn't comprise a majority of students at UT. A lot of people have no religious affiliation at all.
But the fact of the matter is that this is supposed to be a non-faith specific center. It's intended to cater not just to Campus Crusade and YoungLife, but Hillel and Chabad (Jewish organizations - and I guarantee you there are a number of Jewish students at UT), and an Islamic student association.
This may come as a shock to you, but you do not "own" this country. It's not a Christian Nation which suffers the presence of other people. And I, as a Jew, do not feel comfortable with the "Jesus - love him or go home" attitude you apparently subscribe to. If I paid good tuition money to go to UT (and it is not cheap), I'd be, at the very least, irritated about a giant cross hanging out in the middle of campus at a center that is supposed to be for all religious organizations, and not just the Christian ones.
If UT were affiliated with the Methodists or Episcopalians or Baptists, that would be another story. But it's not - it's a secular school which professes to be building a "faith" center for people of all religious persuasions. If you claim that, and then you build a giant cross sculpture right outside it, you're not being honest.
And hey, while we're at it, I'd like to have a space where I can get away from the hustle and bustle of the airport and recite the Amidah, and it would be nice not to have Christ hanging from a crucifix staring at me while I do so.
It's my country too, and I shouldn't be made to feel like a stranger in public places, or even private ones that claim not to have a religious agenda.