Austin, TX

Texas ban on university diversity efforts provides a glimpse of the future across GOP-led states

Published

2 years ago

February 17, 2024

Texas ban on university diversity efforts provides a glimpse of the future across GOP-led states

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The dim lighting and vacant offices were the first clues.

Other changes struck Nina Washington, a senior at the University of Texas, when she returned to her favorite study spot from winter break. The words “Multicultural Center” had been taken off the wall, erasing an effort begun in the late 1980s to serve historically marginalized communities on campus. The center’s staff members were gone, its student groups dissolved.

“Politics, behaviors and emotions are returning to the old ways,” said Washington, who as a Black woman found a sense of community at the center.

The void in the heart of the nearly 52,000-student campus is one of many changes rippling across college campuses in Texas, where one of the nation’s most sweeping bans on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives took effect Jan. 1.

At least five other states have passed their own bans and Republican lawmakers in at least 19 states are pursuing various restrictions on diversity initiatives, an issue they hope will mobilize their voters this election year.

With over 600,000 students enrolled at more than 30 public universities across the state, the rollout in Texas offers a large-scale glimpse of what lies ahead for public higher education without the initiatives designed to make minorities feel less isolated and white students more prepared for careers that require working effectively with people of different backgrounds.

At the University of Texas’ flagship campus in Austin, the state’s second most populous public university, only 4.5% of the student population is Black and 25.2% is Hispanic, numbers some students fear will drop as they struggle to adjust in an atmosphere of fear about what they can say and do.

The law signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott bans public higher education institutions from influencing hiring practices with respect to race, sex, color or ethnicity, and prohibits promoting “differential” or “preferential” treatment or “special” benefits for people based on these categories. Also forbidden are training and activities conducted “in reference to race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation.”

Republican state Sen. Brandon Creighton, who authored the bill, said in an emailed comment Tuesday that DEI efforts claim they are meant to increase diversity, “but after close examination, they are an effort to inject politics and promote cancel-culture into our colleges and universities.”

Time will tell. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, whose nine members are appointed by the governor, is required to inform lawmakers every two years about the ban’s impact on admissions, academic progress and graduation rates of students by race, sex and ethnicity.

To comply with the law, the cultural identity centers that admissions offices promoted to attract minorities are now closed. University websites have scrubbed out references to “diversity” and “inclusion,” replacing them with “access” and “community engagement.” Staff have been reassigned to new roles.

“People want to keep their jobs, but many of us were trained to do this work around diversity, inclusion and equity and were hired specifically to do that,” said Patrick Smith, vice president of the Texas Faculty Association.

Professors are fearful, editing their syllabi and watching their speech, as they navigate the boundaries of compliance, Smith said.

As for the multicultural center in the student union on the Austin campus, the university announced it will consider how best to use the space “to continue building community for all Longhorns.”

Meanwhile, although the law explicitly exempts academics, uncertainty over its scope also has professors and students wondering how to comply.

“To know that your speech is monitored and basically censored if you do the kind of work that I do, that is a strange feeling,” said Karma Chavez, a professor of Mexican American and Latino/a Studies at the university.

The Hispanic Faculty Association, of which Chavez is the co-president, has been prohibited from meeting during working hours or using campus spaces without paying a fee. They can’t even communicate through university email, and groups affiliated with the university cannot co-sponsor events with them.

The limits have Chavez catching herself in meetings or when mentoring a student before she speaks on race or ethnicity, because she is unsure of what she can say and when.

“I don’t think I am self-censoring, I think I have been censored by the state legislature,” Chavez said.

University officials shuttered a group aimed at providing resources for students who qualified for the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Chavez said the DACA group wasn’t specifically helping any of the classifications of people, so “it tells you how widely, how extensively they are interpreting the law.”

Some student groups whose university funding has been prohibited are struggling with the financial burden of maintaining their identity communities and continuing cultural traditions.

University of Texas senior Christian Mira, financial officer for the Queer Trans Black Indigenous People Of Color Agency, said the group lost its space in the multicultural center and has been aggressively fundraising through alumni, local supporters and community outreach. They hope to keep supporting a lively community of students with signature events including a block party, leadership institutes and a ball, although they’re not sure where.

“College is already a difficult experience, so having people around you who you depend on to have that kind of community — it made students feel safe, it made students feel like they could succeed on campus,” Mira said.

Alexander De Jesus, who attends UT-Dallas and is an advocate with Texas Students for DEI, said they prepared for months in ways big and small, such as more clearly advertising that anyone can use a closet of clothes frequented by students who are transitioning.

“It has also been stressful telling other students, ‘Hey, keep your head up,’” De Jesus said. “It is difficult to say that when you see a climate of fear developing and when you see people who are justifiably angered about traditional pathways or politics or people not listening to them.”

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Austin, TX

Rainbow Kitten Surprise at Moody Amphitheater in Austin, TX – Loud Hailer Magazine

Published

11 hours ago

March 26, 2026

Press Room

Rainbow Kitten Surprise at Moody Amphitheater in Austin, TX – Loud Hailer Magazine

On a warm March night, alternative-indie rock band, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, thrilled eager fans with their return to Austin, TX.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise is known for their eclectic influences and unique sound. They are made up of musicians Ela Melo (vocals), Darrick “Bozzy” Keller (guitar/vocals), Ethan Goodpaster (guitar), and Jess Haney (drums). They have been making music since 2013, and their most recent release was a single titled “Sixteen.” In total, they have five studio albums and are hopefully working on another.

Opening for Rainbow Kitten Surprise is Southern California-based band Common People. The band consists of members Nicky Winegardner (vocals/guitar), Konrad Ulich (vocals/bass), Cormac Cadden (drums), Asher Thomson (guitar), and Sam Belzer (guitar). Their garage-rock sound caught the eyes of Red Light Management, and in addition to Rainbow Kitten Surprise, they have opened for big-name artist Cage The Elephant. Their debut single “Thank You” gained traction last year, in 2025. Since then, they have released a few more singles, but fans are still eagerly waiting for an EP or debut album.

Common People came onto the stage with great energy. They performed their song “Ready or Not,” along with a few other originals. Mid-set, they took a second to thank and praise Rainbow Kitten Surprise for having them join them on tour. Sadly, Austin will be their last stop on Rainbow Kitten Surprise’s tour. Following, they performed an awesome cover of The Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?” At around the 40-minute mark of their set, they closed with their newest single, “Dear Worry.”

Rainbow Kitten Surprise opened their set with “Hell Nah” from their most recent album, bones (2025), and “Our Song,” a single from 2020. Many fans at the barricade held signs that applauded the band. They also waved LGBTQ+ and Transgender Pride flags. Ela announced to fans that this would be the last stop on their 2026 bones Tour before they took a well-deserved break. At the end of May, Rainbow Kitten Surprise will pick back up their tour in Europe and before returning to the US for a few more shows. Their set continued, and they played songs such as the newer 2025 single “Espionage” and the throwback “All’s Well That Ends.”

Before beginning their latest single, “Sixteen,” Ela introduced it as the most emo song they’ve ever made. Towards the end of their show, they performed a quick three-song acoustic run of “Texas Hold’em,” “Bare Bones,” and “First Class.” As the night came to an end, Rainbow Kitten Surprise shut it down with an encore of the closing track from bones, “Tropics” and “It’s Called: Freefall,” their 2018 top-hit from the album How To: Friend, Love, Freefall.

Fans can expect their favorite band to come to Austin sometime soon, as it seems Rainbow Kitten Surprise tours here pretty regularly.

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Austin, TX

A 104-Year-Old Woman Sold Them Their Austin Bungalow. Now, It’s Ready for Another Century.

Published

23 hours ago

March 26, 2026

Press Room

A 104-Year-Old Woman Sold Them Their Austin Bungalow. Now, It’s Ready for Another Century.

Holly Beth Potter and her husband Matt, 35, an entrepreneur, admired the historic Rosewood neighborhood of Austin, Texas, for years until they finally purchased a 1930s-era Victorian-style bungalow that was owned by a 104-year-old woman.

“She lived in the house for more than 70 years, and her ‘kids’—who are in their 80s—sold it to us instead of a developer because we told them we loved the character of the house and wanted to restore it,” said Holly Beth Potter, 33, a former EMT who’s now an interior designer. When the Potters purchased the house in 2019, they hoped to have children and now they have three—ages four, three and seven months.

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“We knew the house needed work, especially since not all of the plumbing was functional,” Potter said. Once they brought in Side Angle Side Architects, however, it was clear they faced a full-blown renovation. “After the project started, they discovered rotting wood, broken windows and a dysfunctional roof structure, plus when we pulled off the skirting under the house it revealed that we needed a new foundation and new framing.”

The Potters pulled back from that renovation to build an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) on the property, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom house they lived in while the main house was rebuilt. Now the ADU serves as a guest house for friends and family.

“They basically had to take apart the main house piece by piece and put it back together, but they saved as much as they could of the wood and trim and reused it,” Potter said. “It probably would have been easier to tear it down, but we wanted to preserve the character as much as we could. They reconfigured the original house on the same footprint, moving the kitchen between the living room and dining room on one side of the hallway, with the primary bedroom and a second bedroom on the other side.”

The dining room has the original shiplap from the old house and original wood pocket doors. The new kitchen and living room are open to each other, with a hemlock wood ceiling overhead. The architects took some space from the central hallway to create a mudroom, closet and pantry.

An addition, which doubled the living space from 1,800 square feet to about 3,600 square feet, includes an office, a family room with a loft and the children’s bedrooms.

“Our goal with the addition was to deliberately design it in a different architectural style,” Potter said. “Sometimes people ask me if this is one house or two.”

MORE: ‘Shiplap in Nearly Every Room.’ Inside Empty-Nesters’ $1 Million L.A. Home Renovation.

The Potters declined to comment on how much the renovation and addition cost. Construction took about 21 months.

The collaboration between Potter and Side Angle Side Architects on the house was so successful that her company, HB Studio, is now part of Side Angle Side.

Potter and the Side Angle Side team offered more insight into the renovation process:

I would describe the aesthetic as… “timeless,” Potter said. “I chose furniture that felt contemporary, while also leaning into tones and patterns that were warm and romantic to create an overall feeling of timelessness.”

My advice to others… “is to let the old house tell you what to do,” said Annie-Laurie Grabiel, co-founder of Side Angle Side Architects. “In this case, it was important to let the original home be the star of the show. We figured out that the best way to add onto the house without compromising its integrity was to essentially build a separate building next to it and connect the two as minimally as we could. The new addition almost stands alone and connects to the old house with a lower roof that just tucks under the existing roof eave.”

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My favorite post-renovation feature is… “the way we embraced indoor-outdoor living,” Potter said. “We preserved this big tree in the backyard and built the courtyard and pool area around it. We can open all the doors and windows around it, so you feel like you’re outside even when you’re indoors.”

The biggest challenge… “was working with the existing house,” said Arthur Furman, a co-founder of Side Angle Side Architects. “The clients loved the character of the old home, and we were determined to keep it as a central aspect of the new design. However, the wood framing was compromised from water damage and rot. In the end the house had to be reframed, but we matched the original footprint and proportions. We salvaged and reinstalled as much of the interior woodwork as we could, including the wood floors, interior doors, window trim and base boards.”

The most dramatic change was… “the new kitchen,” Grabiel said. “The original kitchen was small and dark and didn’t have a strong connection to the outdoors. We relocated [it] to the heart of the interior and opened it up with access and views to the back porch and pool deck.”

The biggest surprise was… “that some of the best elements weren’t part of our pre-construction plans,” Furman said. “When the roof was being reframed, we looked up at the treetops through the rafters and we thought how nice it would be to open up a skylight and experience the natural light right when you enter the home. Also, we had always planned the kids’ loft area, but then one day the clients had the idea to add the netting to extend the loft space and create more connectivity between above and below.”

Favorite materials we discovered during the process… “include the natural materials for the walls, floors and bathrooms,” Potter said. “In the living room we installed a hemlock wood ceiling and a plaster fireplace wall, and we used quartzite counters in the kitchen and bathrooms.”

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Austin, TX

No shots fired at Rodeo Austin, crowd panic triggered by fight between minors

Published

1 day ago

March 25, 2026

Press Room

No shots fired at Rodeo Austin, crowd panic triggered by fight between minors

AUSTIN, Texas — Rodeo Austin and the Travis County Sheriff’s Office cleared up confusion after a scare in the rodeo’s carnival area Tuesday night.

Deputies and multiple law enforcement agencies working off-duty at the event received reports of shots fired around 9:20 p.m. after a large crowd began running and dispersing from the carnival area. Investigators found no guns, no evidence of gunshots and no injuries, the sheriff’s office said.

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The incident was later determined to have started as a physical altercation between minors.

In a statement, Rodeo Austin said on-site law enforcement responded quickly to defuse the situation:

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“On Tuesday night, during the $2 Tuesday promotion, a disturbance occurred in the carnival area, which caused confusion for attendees. Rodeo Austin’s on-site law enforcement responded quickly to help defuse the situation and ensure all guests were safe. There is no evidence of any gun shots fired at the event. We will continue to work diligently with law enforcement and our full safety team to ensure Rodeo Austin is a safe environment for all attendees,” a spokesperson said.

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