State law prohibits schools from making direct name, image and likeness deals with athletes. Texas Tech says it puts them at a disadvantage as the university recruits athletes for fall 2025.
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
UNT faculty slam university for removing references to race and equity in course names
Professors and instructors say the university is preemptively censoring itself after administrators removed references to race and equity in dozens of College of Education course titles and descriptions.
Posted in
Higher Education
Texas names new higher education chief
Wynn Rosser will be in charge of guiding the state’s postsecondary education policies. He currently leads a foundation focused on rural East Texas and previously worked at Texas A&M.
Posted in
Higher Education
Texas colleges pitch quick credentials as a first step toward higher wages. But students often fall off the path.
Short-term certificates can only take a few weeks to get but don’t always lead to better earnings or higher degrees.
Posted in
Higher Education
Gov. Greg Abbott wants to freeze tuition at Texas colleges and universities for another two years
The governor’s directive extends a tuition freeze for Texas’ public universities that was approved in the last legislative session.
Posted in
LGBTQ+ Texans
Texas A&M regents overrule faculty, cut 52 “low-producing” programs including LGBTQ+ studies minor
After conservative criticism over the LGBTQ+ minor, university officials started looking at all its programs. Faculty say they were excluded from the process.
Posted in
Higher Education
Texas State University condemns demonstrators who brought offensive signs to campus
The university is exploring potential legal responses after two men came on campus the day after the election with misogynistic and homophobic signs.
Posted in
2024 Texas Elections
Texas judge accused of breaking law after asking his university students to vote for him
A candidate running against the judge accused him of emailing his students at Texas State to vote for him. State law prohibits using public resources for political advertising.
Posted in
Higher Education
Texas students can now see which state public universities would accept them before they apply
Students can enter their class rank, grade point average, and standardized test scores to get a list of universities to which they’d be admitted.
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Energy
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says Legislature will review Deloitte’s contracts after public loan project scandal
The examination of Deloitte’s existing contracts comes after it failed to catch red flags in a company’s application for a loan to build or upgrade power plants in the state.