Reporting Texas
News and features from UT-Austin's School of Journalism
byVikram Sundaram
Twitch streamer and left-wing pundit Hasan Piker called the University of Texas hypocritical in its policing of left-wing speech in his remarks to UT students Wednesday at the William C Powers Jr. Auditorium, his first major public appearance on a southern college campus.
“You can’t have an opinion outside of the permission structure.” Piker told the crowd, which UT officials counted as 301 people inside the 466-seat auditorium.
The speech came after a month of condemnations against the University Democrats by Texas officials critical of Piker’s criticism of Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
Piker argued that the university considered his “quite rational, quite reasonable, quiet peaceful commentary to be radical.”
bySamantha Rubin and Oisakhose Aghomo
As NASA prepares for more missions like Artemis ll, public interest in space has spiked again. But alongside the excitement is an uptick in skepticism doubting NASA’s achievements in online conversations. “Anything that has that level of attention… makes itself ripe for conspiracies,” said Asheley Landrum, an Arizona State University journalism and mass […]
byRachel N. Madison
From its origins as a connective Central Texas strip to bustling retail hub to the site of countless indie films, South Congress Avenue has long been one of Austin’s iconic spots. But the street’s fame is taking a toll. Around a dozen of the street’s legacy businesses have relocated or closed their doors entirely over […]
byNoemi Castanon and Max Mazoch
Illene Barrera has taught social studies at Lehman High School in Kyle for nine years. Though the job can be challenging, Barrera has kept a positive attitude while preparing her students for the future.
“My goal for them is to be able to understand the world around them,” Barrera said, “and knowing the history of the country and then how it affects them, hopefully inspires them to be civic participants.”
But the way Barrera teaches is about to change.
