Skye Seipp

A UT student sued UT-Austin and the UT System Board of Regents on Friday, seeking prorated tuition for all UT students since the COVID-19 pandemic forced classes online in March 2020. 

Despite this week’s higher temperatures, Austin is still reeling from the effects of last week’s inclement weather, which caused widespread power and water outages. 

The University’s main campus is no longer under a boil water notice, according to the emergency messages page. Austin Water lifted the boil water notice Monday morning for the Central Pressure Zone, which includes UT’s main campus, West Campus and parts of North Campus. 

The Texan has compiled and is constantly updating a list of resources and information pertaining to: student emergency housing, financial support and tuition, water at UT, warming centers, campus food options, UTPD’s response to on campus violations, what to expect from classes and professors, power at UT, what’s closed at UT and UHS and CMHC. 

Power outages have been affecting some customers since early Monday morning after the Electric Reliability Council of Texas called for rotating outages to turn off power for two million homes  in Texas.

The University estimated it will spend $15 million for costs such as technology for classes, maintaining personal protective equipment, COVID-19 testing and other pandemic-related expenditures.

The update said “chances are very high” UT will transition back to in-person learning at some point in the fall, but remains unclear on when or how that would happen.  

Two cases of the B.1.1.7 variant of COVID-19 from the United Kingdom were reported at UT on Friday, according to an email from University Health Services and Susan Hochman, associate director of assessment, communications and health information technology for University Health Services.

Over 330 students, staff and faculty from the UT community tested positive for COVID-19 in the first two weeks of the spring semester.

UT-Austin is currently only vaccinating people for COVID-19 who meet the 1A or 1B state qualifications despite claims on social media that the vaccine was available to the general public.

Aswathi Thomas isn’t the only UT student who said they felt misled into signing the petition, which Save Austin Now submitted last week with 27,000 signatures

Undergraduate hybrid classes — excluding pharmacy and nursing courses — were moved to an online-only format through January.

Of the 13 defendants, eight are former or current UT-Austin students, including business, chemistry, mathematics and psychology majors. At the press conference, investigators said sales were over $1 million.

A Tenant Advisory Board said in an email that some students will no longer find the housing to be affordable with the rent hike.   

This year’s freshman class enrolled one of the highest percentages of Pell Grants awardees ever, according to a UT News press release from Oct. 29.

Waterloo will be one of the tallest buildings in the area at 320 feet, making it taller than both the UT Tower and the Texas State Capitol. 

Nontraditional students returning to school often face different challenges than traditional students. This semester, nontraditional students may face additional challenges with online classes.

“The Eyes of Texas” was first sung in 1903 at a minstrel show where white performers sung it in blackface.