🏫 How will DEI layoffs affect life at UT?

🪓 DEI Layoffs at UT

This week, Jay Hartzell, president of The University of Texas at Austin, publicly announced that 49 faculty members were laid off due to a new state law banning diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in higher education. [CBS Austin]

• Austin’s alt-weekly spoke to Nyeka Arnold, a UT student whose program is now being shuttered: “I thought I would never be able to touch this environment, and now that has been taken away," Arnold said. "And it feels like Jim Crow.” [Austin Chronicle]

🎧 Listen Up

Housing is a huge issue here, and the unhoused individuals we see are an everyday reminder that what we’re doing collectively isn’t working. But understanding why that is can be confusing — so let Amy Stansbury be your guide. Two episodes into The Austin Common’s mini-series, Stansbury has walked listeners through what it’s like to seek access to housing services and why the city desperately needs more emergency shelter beds. [The Austin Common Radio Hour]

🥵 Like an Aversion

As is her preference for performances, Madonna kept the AC off when her “Celebration Tour” stopped at the Moody Center this week. The Queen of Pop’s fans were ready, though, according to friends and my neighborhood WhatsApp: They napped to prepare for her late start and dressed for the occasion with handheld fans. And though the spectacle was decidedly weird at times, it did not disappoint. [Austin Chronicle]

🦺 SXSW Crash Kills Second Victim

The second of two friends who were struck by a car during SXSW while they were walking to play pool has died of his injuries. William Dunham, 34, died at the hospital one month after the hit-and-run crash downtown. [KVUE]

• Chef Cody Jordon Shelton, 26, died at the scene of the wreck in the early morning of March 12. Austin police arrested a man suspected in the crash later that day. [Eater Austin]

🚂 Back on Tracks

Remember the Zilker Zephyr, the mini train that used to scoot around Zilker Park, delighting youngsters and annoying impatient exercisers? Well, it went out of commission in 2019. But rising from its ashes is the Zilker Eagle. A newspaper photographer caught the Eagle mid-test flight recently, but still no word on when they’ll welcome passengers aboard. [Austin American-Statesman]