Pro-Palestine Activists Urge UT Regents to Divest from Weapons Manufacturers 

A group of pro-Palestinian activists demonstrated at a  University of Texas System Board of Regents meeting Wednesday demanding the divestment of university funds from weapons manufacturers supplying arms to Israel. 
With Palestinian flags rippling in the wind, around 50 protesters marched on the sidewalk outside the UT System Building in downtown Austin, chanting to the beat of a drum. Inside, the regents convened in a quiet boardroom. 

Pro-Palestinian Students Protest Israeli Politician’s Speech at UT

byShunya Carroll and Sarah Gonzales

Pro-Palestinian protesters condemned the University of Texas for allowing  a former Israeli prime minister to speak on campus as part of Hillel International’s Teach-In tour Tuesday night at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. 

Texas Goalkeeper’s Work for Others Nets SEC Community Service Honor

byLuke Lawhorn

Like the rest of the University of Texas student-athletes, Megan Hogate received a bunch of Nike athletic gear when she stepped on campus in fall 2021. After watching the shoe boxes pile up in her closet, she decided to do something with them. She would recycle them into Valentine’s Day boxes with heart-filled messages for children at the Dell Children’s Medical Center.
Hogate’s Valentine initiative was just one of many volunteer and community outreach efforts she’s undertaken, earning her recent recognition by the Southeastern Conference to its annual women’s soccer Community Service Team — the first time Texas, a new SEC member, has placed an athlete on the team. She is one of 16 student-athletes chosen for the honor highlighting “an athlete from each school who gives back to their community in superior service efforts.”

‘Sadly Disheartened’: Democratic-Supporting UT Students Express Fear, Anger After Election

byMeredith McKelvey, Sarah Gonzales and Madeline de Figueiredo

The day after Republican candidates swept the 2024 U.S. and Texas elections, many University of Texas students expressed excitement, anger, disappointment and fear for the state’s and country’s future.
“We are definitely feeling a lot of disappointment,” said Brian Peña, president of the University Democrats. “We worked very hard for the whole year and are reeling from the national and statewide results.”

Photos: Voting on the Forty Acres

University of Texas students turned out in strong numbers at campus polling locations Tuesday for national, state and local elections.
Click for slideshow.

Student Activists Stopped from Delivering Pro-Palestine Letter to UT President, Say They Could Face Disciplinary Action

byMichael Karlis and Meredith McKelvey

More students at the University of Texas say they face disciplinary action after attempting to deliver a letter to President Jay Hartzell demanding the university divest from companies connected to Israel’s war in Gaza.

UT Students Say They Feel Betrayed After a Year of Dismantling DEI Programs

byAbby L. Johnson, Michelle Lavergne, Michael Nolan, Isabella McGovern, Anissa Sanchez

Texas is among the first states to successfully pass higher education DEI bans out of the 28 that have attempted to do so. The effects of the loss of these programs on individual students, staff and faculty, as well as the broader impact on campus culture are just now beginning to reveal themselves. 
UT dissolved its Multicultural Engagement Center on Jan. 1 and then terminated over 60 employees in DEI-related jobs on April 2. The newly renamed Division of Campus and Community Engagement and the Women’s Community Center were among those shut down.
“It’s such a betrayal,” said one student.

Buehler’s Back in School Where an ‘Old Dog’ is Learning New Tricks

byAliya Carr

The hum of students shuffling across campus. Virtual strangers morphing into familiar faces. It’s the first day of the new semester at the University of Texas. Bob Buehler begins his walk to his first class, dressed in slightly wrinkled gray khakis and a purple plaid collared shirt. His round glasses sit squarely on the bridge […]

Mexican Actor Says Latinos Can Change Texas Politics If They Vote

byKatrina L. Spencer

Latinos in Texas have the power to change the state’s political landscape if they vote in greater numbers, Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta Mejía told a group of about 200 Central Texas residents Monday. 
“Somos un chingo,” Huerta Mejía said, referencing the fact that Latinos are a large part of the Texas electorate.
Huerta Mejía, who starred in the movie “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” was invited to speak on the University of Texas at Austin campus by NextGen America, an organization working to promote progressive public policy and increase voter turnout.

Oh, Rats! Rodents on Campus Are UT’s Hidden Nightlife

byAbby L. Johnson

 The sun has yet to rise. There is a stillness outside the G.B. Dealey Center for New Media, home to the University of Texas’ Moody College of Communication. The sidewalks are devoid of students — it’s far too early for them to begin their sleepy shuffle from dorm rooms to their 8 a.m. classes. The only sounds that disturb the silence are the occasional whoosh of a car speeding down Guadalupe Street and the piercing, steady clap ringing out ominously in the otherwise tranquil pre-dawn hours.
On this early morning, a university custodian walks toward the Dealey Center with arms outstretched. Despite the cover of darkness, his presence is clearly announced by the loud clapping of his hands as he approaches the building. 
The custodian claps to scatter the rodents that live in the south-facing courtyard of the communications building.

From Texas to the Peruvian Amazon, a UT Researcher Preserves a Dying Language

byMichael Nolan

Nestled deep in the Amazon basin, a makeshift house sits alongside a rustic nut storage facility. Two of the occupants of this house in Peru’s remote Madre de Dios District might be the last chance of survival for the endangered language Iñapari. 
Meanwhile, over 3,000 miles away, a doctoral student is huddled over his laptop at the University of Texas at Austin. Barrett Hamp, a UT doctoral student in linguistics, has dedicated his research since 2019 to recording the indigenous language in Peru to prevent it from disappearing.  “Once a language is gone, it’s gone.  There’s no reviving it,” Hamp said.

Nahuatl, Indigenous Language of Mexico, Leaves UT Students with Another World View

byMaria Probert

Soft strums from a wooden guitar and the smell of warm tamales and green salsa that flowed together like a warm hug filled the air of Benedict Hall. About 35 students and faculty gathered at the teachers’ lounge at the University of Texas to listen to Crispin Martinez Rosas, who goes by the artistic name […]

Omitting ‘Rare’ When Ordering A Medium Rare Burger

byAmber Williams

As a child Juan Samuel Reyes chose to remain silent even when he had something to say. But now Reyes is one of several students who stutter at the University of Texas at Austin learning to communicate effectively while accepting their stutter through practice, community and advocacy. “I’m in the process of becoming more comfortable […]

UT Engineering Students on Track to Maintain Legacy of Longhorn Racing

byDom Bejarano

Thirty-three years after the founding of Longhorn Racing, the organization continues to design, fabricate and test cars for competitions in Formula SAE automotive events around the country.

Issues, Voting Challenges Made Midterms Personal for Highly Engaged Students

byKatie Pratt and Lisette Lopez

Young voters across a divided nation are being credited by political analysts for preventing a Republican-dominated midterm from coming to life. Yet, that “red wave” did come to shore in the Lone Star State. Every statewide Republican candidate won by double percentage points, and a frustration from the large majority of UT students the day after the election was palpable. Still, at UT Austin, the lead-up to the 2022 midterm election was marked by a strong passion from students getting out the vote and campaigning for ideas and candidates they believed in.

UT Students Walk Out in Support of Reproductive and Trans Rights

bySamantha Eisenmenger

University of Texas students walked out of their classrooms as part of the National Day of Student Action, a nationwide peaceful protest for reproductive rights and trans rights after the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June.   

The Graduate Student Action Network organized walkouts at about 50 universities in 25 states, including the University of Nebraska, the University of Arkansas, West Virginia University, the City University of New York and New York University.    

“It’s incredibly exciting,” said one student. “I think we had an excellent turnout. Just seeing the range of speakers and organizations that we come from and all of the backgrounds is incredibly inspiring. Reproductive justice is such an intersectional issue, all of the perspectives here today.”

Just Call Me By My Name: UT Students Reflect on Their Identity

byJennifer Errico

A name is the first glimpse into a person’s character. It, too, is one’s brand.

Names correlate with self-worth, personality and status. According to author Ralph Ellison, it is through our names how we first place ourselves in this world.

Three University of Texas at Austin students share how their names shaped their identities, often not without struggle.

How a UT-Austin Program is Helping Students of Color Study Abroad 

byCristela Jones

During the 2017-18 academic year, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, about 11% of all U.S. college students studied abroad, according to reporting from Inside Higher Ed. Of those who studied abroad, Black students comprised 5.5%, Hispanic students 10.6% and Asian students 8.6%, while white students accounted for 70%, according to data from the Association of International Educators. 

About 4.7% of Black UT-Austin students studied abroad in the 2018-19 school year, Heather Thompson, director of the university’s education abroad department, told Reporting Texas. Among all UT-Austin students, about 8.5% study abroad annually.

The Global Leadership Program is helping to change the way students of color study abroad at UT by recruiting students of color and first-generation college students, offering study-abroad scholarships and building leadership programs for student success.

Gender Gap Among STEM Faculty at UT Proves Difficult to Eradicate

byEniola Longe

At UT-Austin, women make up 45% of the total faculty, but a much smaller percentage in STEM majors. The departments of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics, electrical and computer engineering, geosciences, mechanical engineering and physics all have less than 20% female faculty.

Longhorn Women’s Basketball Greats Return to Say Goodbye to Erwin Center

byBrandon Jenkins

Some of the pioneers of Texas women’s basketball came to the Frank Erwin Center to say goodbye one final time to the home of the Longhorns for the past 46 years