University Democrats spent weeks arguing that demand for Hasan Piker’s UT Austin appearance had outgrown the room they booked. About 300 people showed up for a hall that seats 466.

The student group said more than 2,400 people had RSVP’d or joined a waitlist for the Sept. 30 event; the Daily Texan later put the figure above 3,000. Organizers said requests for larger rooms, including Bass Concert Hall and Gregory Gym, were denied, and accused the university of “shadow-cancelling” a talk on immigration, Gaza, and the Democratic Party.

The event went ahead in the William C. Powers Jr. Student Activity Center, the room originally reserved. A UT spokesperson told KUT that 301 people attended. The Austin American-Statesman estimated about 300 and noted that at least two rows stayed empty. The university’s position was that organizers received the space they requested, and that it was in fact more space than organizers needed.

Benjamin Shrader, identified by the Statesman as the group’s chairman and president, said only about 20 percent of those present were UT students, and claimed students might have been afraid to come to the event. Online registration is easy to collect (or to game). The audience that did show up was small but friendly: Piker criticized Gov. Greg Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Sen. Ted Cruz, and the crowd booed on cue.

University Democrats can argue that UT did not help them find a larger hall and that an enhanced security presence discouraged attendance. The university can answer that the group booked a 466-seat room, received it, and didn't even fill it.