Reporting Texas
News and features from UT-Austin's School of Journalism

Politics

New Graduate Workers Union Fights for Better Pay and Protests the College Compact

or the past two months, the University of Texas’ newly formed Graduate Workers Union has been advocating for better treatment, pay and rights of graduate student employees. And now it is joining other student groups in opposing a deal with the Trump administration that would transform the university’s governance structure.
“A union is a commitment by workers at a workplace to stand together with each other to be treated the way they deserve to be treated in terms of compensation and working conditions,” said Sociology Ph.D. student and union member Noah DiAntonio.

Students Demand Protection of Ethnic and Gender Studies as UT Weighs Trump Compact and Consolidation

University of Texas students Monday urged administrators to reject the Trump compact on higher education and to stop a possible consolidation plan of the College of Liberal Arts they say could erase ethnic studies, women’s and gender studies and several language departments. “When I arrived at UT as a freshman, our campus looked completely different,” […]

DACA Helped Them Get Legal Commercial Vehicle Licenses. A New Policy Took Them Away.

At 4 a.m., Yeni Renderos’ alarm went off, just like every other day. Half-asleep, she made coffee, woke her 16-year-old daughter and drove her to school before climbing into her truck, “Rosendo,” as she affectionately called it. For 10 years, that routine had defined her life in Houston, driving to construction sites, convinced her life was finally moving forward.
But that Monday was different. Renderos’ boss called to confirm what she feared most: “You can’t keep working, Yeni, she recalled him saying. “The rules for commercial licenses have changed.”

As a New Texas Law Clamps Down on School Libraries, ‘Librotraficantes’ Fight Back

Just two months after a new Texas law expanded parents’ power to challenge school library books, authors gathered at the Texas Book Festival’s Banned Book Bash to read from titles that have been banned or challenged, or which might face future restrictions. The festival’s Librotraficantes: Banned Book Bash, held Saturday at Cheer Up Charlies, brought […]

Nov 14, 2025

Unaccompanied Minors Face New Hurdles as Trump Administration Levies Unprecedented Fees

  Immigrant children seeking asylum in the United States are facing thousands of dollars in new fees and other hurdles mandated this year by Congress, Texas refugee advocates say. “Policy changes that we’ve seen over the past few months …  all have one thing in common, and that is targeting the rights of migrant children […]

Nov 09, 2025

Young Americans Could Change the U.S. Position in the Middle East, Authors Suggest

Young Americans’ shifting opinion on the Israel-Palestine conflict could change U.S. involvement in the Middle East, a former U.S. diplomat said Saturday at the Texas Book Festival. “We are now living in a period which is, to me, unique in the history of this country,” said Robert Malley, who served in the Clinton, Obama and […]

Nov 08, 2025

High School Marchers Protest Restrictions on Speech and Academic Freedom: ‘We are Done Being Polite About Our Rights.'”

College and high school students marched to the Texas State Capitol Friday to protest new state laws that they say limit student speech and harm public education.
“To Texas lawmakers, hands off our youth — because we are done being polite about our rights.” high school student Kara Newton yelled through a megaphone to protesters. “We are done being complacent. We want change and we want it now!”

Nov 04, 2025

Paxton Urges Conservatives to ‘Take on the Evil’ of the Left to ‘Save America’

State and federal Republican officials called for conservatives to wage war against leftist ideologies in a Turning Point USA event on the University of Texas campus Monday, stating that it was their “life purpose to destroy them.”

Apr 30, 2025

Trump’s Latino Support Erodes Since Election, Poll Finds

Latinos in Texas and elsewhere – a demographic credited with helping Donald Trump win a second term – are starting to turn on the president as consumer confidence plunges and recession fears rise, according to new polling released this week. 

Apr 24, 2025

At Anti-Trump Rally, Less Chanting and More Organizing

Organizers said more than 1,000 demonstrators descended upon the Texas State Capitol over the weekend to protest against what some experts say is the Trump administration’s increasingly authoritarian rule.  Saturday’s protest, organized by the 50501, Hands Off! and Resist Austin movements — three grassroots campaigns aiming to prevent “plutocrats” from “undermining the rule of law”  […]

Apr 24, 2025

A Conference on UT Campus for ‘Pro-Natalists’ Draws Ire

In April 2024, state and local police cracked down on University of Texas students protesting Israel’s invasion of Gaza, following calls for intervention by university administrators. As with protests on other college campuses, university and political leaders accused the pro-Palestinian protesters of antisemitism.
Almost a year later, one of the same groups involved in those protests, the Austin Chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, took part in another protest — this time to oppose the presence of alleged neo-Nazis and eugenicists at a conference held on the UT campus. The activists highlighted what they called a disconnect between the treatment of two groups accused of connections to antisemitic views

Mar 08, 2025

Texans Rally in Defense of Science and Against Trump Administration Cuts

Hundreds gathered in front of the Texas Capitol for a “Stand Up to Science” rally Friday, demanding the defense of scientific integrity, expanded funding and the protection of diversity in research. The rally, one of 32 in cities across the country, was organized in response to the Trump administration’s cuts to scientific funding, the removal […]

Mar 03, 2025

Outnumbered Texas Democrats Gear Up to Fight School Vouchers

Texas Democrats say funding for public schools is at risk in the current legislative session because Gov. Greg Abbott’s years-long drive for private school vouchers has its best chance ever of succeeding. Texas Democratic lawmakers lost several key seats during the 2024 election cycle and now face face five months of negotiations with Republican counterparts. […]

Feb 09, 2025

In Rural West Texas, Measles Outbreak Signals Concerns over Federal Changes

Amid concerns that Trump administration policies have reduced access to public health data, the Texas Department of State Health Services has confirmed a measles outbreak in Gaines County, which borders New Mexico, with six cases reported so far.

Feb 06, 2025

Texans Join Nationwide Protests Against Trump Administration

As protests erupted in state capitals around the country Wednesday, hundreds of protesters marched through downtown Austin to voice their anger at the Trump administration. 
Enraged by President Donald Trump’s far-reaching actions during the first two weeks of his second term, protesters waved signs and chanted in unison at the Texas Capitol and on the streets of downtown Austin. While protesters had varied reasons for demonstrating against the Trump administration, they shared a common fear: the demise of democratic institutions in the United States. 
“At some point, you can only step on people’s necks for so long,” said Benny de la Vega, an American who immigrated from the Philippines in 1985 and said he is seeing similarities to the dictatorship he fled. “At some point, everyone will have a common, shared understanding that their rights are being taken away. When we lose representation, then things need to change.”

Nov 20, 2024

UT Students Voted Heavily for Harris. They Told Us Why.

Although she lost the presidential election to Donald Trump, Kamala Harris won majority support from voters living in and around the University of Texas at Austin. In the five precincts surrounding UT, Harris’ support ranged from 55% to 68%, and she earned more votes than Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. Trump […]

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