UTSA decided to end the six-year tradition because the phrase had become “incongruent” with the university’s values and it did not want to become embroiled in a divisive issue.
Kate McGee
Kate McGee is an Austin-based enterprise and investigative reporter. She joined the Tribune in October 2020 as a higher education reporter. She was a three-time finalist for the Education Writers Association's Beat Reporter of the Year award, winning the title in 2024. She was also a Livingston Award finalist for her coverage of the University of Texas at Austin. Before the Tribune, she spent nearly a decade as a reporter at public radio stations nationwide, including in Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Austin; Reno, Nevada; and New York. Kate was born in New York City and primarily raised in New Jersey. She earned her bachelor's degree from Fordham University.
Posted in
Higher Education
Texas NAACP, students file federal civil rights complaint over UT-Austin’s ‘Eyes of Texas’
The complaint signals a continued desire among some UT-Austin students and alumni to push administrators to discontinue using the song as the university’s alma mater, despite the university’s insistence that it will remain.
Posted in
Texas Abortion Restrictions
Bill limiting abortion-inducing pills heads to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk to be signed into law
Senate Bill 4, which was advanced by the Texas House on Monday evening, would bar access to abortion-inducing pills to patients who are more than seven weeks pregnant.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Angela Graham-West, wife of Texas GOP candidate Allen West, wasn’t drunk or on drugs when jailed for DWI, tests show
West had insisted his wife had not been drinking the night she was arrested, calling the arrest “insidious.” Dallas police said they stand by the officer’s decision to arrest Graham-West based on the information available at the time.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Texas lawmakers supported a statewide vaccine mandate a decade ago. Now they’re resisting one for COVID-19.
Ten years ago, the state led in requiring meningitis vaccines for students under 22 enrolling in college. Now, in the middle of a pandemic, lawmakers are more skeptical of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Posted in
Investigations
UT-Austin working with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, conservative donors to create “limited government” think tank
Proposals obtained by The Texas Tribune indicate the institute would be “dedicated to the study and teaching of individual liberty, limited government, private enterprise and free markets.”
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Dallas police defend DWI arrest of GOP gubernatorial candidate Allen West’s wife as her lawyer questions their evidence
An affidavit obtained by The Texas Tribune shows Angela Graham-West showed signs of intoxication in some — but not all — portions of a field sobriety test. Her lawyer attributes some issues to a previous brain aneurysm Graham-West suffered behind her right eye.
Posted in
Coronavirus in Texas
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tests negative for COVID-19 four days after positive test
The governor credited his vaccination for keeping his infection “brief and mild” and encouraged others to consider getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
Posted in
Texas 2022 Elections
Allen West, GOP candidate for governor, calls wife’s DWI arrest in Dallas “insidious”
Angela Graham-West, wife of GOP gubernatorial candidate Allen West, was arrested by Dallas Police Friday night for allegedly driving while intoxicated. Allen West said she hadn’t been drinking, that her 3-month-old grandson was in the car with her, and called the arrest “insidious.”
Posted in
Higher Education
Texas State University president to retire at end of school year after 20 years
President Denise Trauth oversaw years of growth at Texas State as it became a Hispanic Serving Institution, a Texas Emerging Research University and underwent the most construction projects since the university’s founding.
