UT News

Alumni group confirms that University of Texas president was asked to resign

Regents confirmed that Bill Powers has been asked to resign.

Bill Powers Facebook

UPDATE: A correction has been made to this story to denote that members of the alumni group confirmed that Powers was asked to resign. The story previously stated that two Regents had confirmed the information.

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KVUE — Two members of the Board of Directors of the University of Texas's official alumni group, Texas Exes, say reports that university President Bill Powers has been asked to resign are true.

KVUE has obtained that letter.

Dear Texas Ex,

We apologize for interrupting your Fourth of July weekend, but we have urgent news of the university to share with you.

Multiple news outlets are reporting that UT-Austin President Bill Powers has been given an ultimatum to resign or be fired at this week's meeting of the Board of Regents. We can confirm for you that this news is accurate, and that President Powers has declined to resign, instead asking to work together on a timeline for change.

A forced resignation or firing would be a travesty for UT. It would cause further tension with legislators regarding UT System, would compound unrest among faculty, students, and alumni, and invoke serious harm to the institution's reputation in the national spotlight. President Powers has advanced the university through many tremendous accomplishments, and has been a great leader; he deserves better than this. This is about our university; it is a treasure that alumni need to protect and we need to stand up and fight for its stature. The University of Texas at Austin deserves better than this.

This latest news came from an unfortunate leak to the media which has caused a premature impression of an ongoing and unresolved personnel decision, and has inflamed the controversy. If the individual who leaked the details of the conversation between the chancellor and the president of UT-Austin to the media is in a fiduciary role over the university, this person has breached that duty and has not acted honorably nor in the best interests of the university. Despite this, the chancellor and the president should be able to work together on a mutual decision that provides leadership and a succession plan for the university. That is the way this kind of change is responsibly made.

For more information on this matter and resources for alumni to take action, please see this overview on our Texas Exes website, www.texasexes.org

Thank you for your loyalty to our great alma mater.

Kay Bailey Hutchison, President of the Board
Charles Matthews, Chairman of the Board

The board of regents is expected to meet Thursday. An online petition was started by students and faculty at UT to support President Bill Powers.

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Read the full story on KVUE.com.

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More Foraging

Free 'food forest' in East Austin expands with thousands of new plants

Angelina Alanis at Festival Beach Food Forest

Photo courtesy of KVUE

Angelina Alanis gives a tour of the garden, which is open to anyone.

In East Austin, there is an edible forest garden called Festival Beach Food Forest where anyone can walk around and harvest free produce, nuts, medicinal plant leaves and herbs. And over the summer, it grew to several times its size.

The forest has fig trees, peach trees, grapevines, asparagus and more that's not in season right now. You can grab passionfruit and plants like yaupon holly, with leaves that can make a caffeinated tea, rosemary and lemon balm.

"[Lemon balm] is part of the mint family," said Angelina Alanis, communication and partnership coordinator for Festival Beach Food Forest. "It has a lemony taste but it's good for a nervous stomach. I'm prone to anxiety so I always grab a hunk."

The food forest is located right next to Interstate 35 and Lady Bird Lake on 29 Waller St., near a part of town that's known for being a food desert, lacking grocery stores.

"There's as much as a 20-year life expectancy difference between parts of East and West Austin, and a lot of that comes down to food access, health care access and also access to nature."

Alanis said for the past nine years, the volunteer-based grassroots project been helping with the issue and just recently expanded in the summer from two-thirds of an acre of city parkland to over 3.5 acres.

"We're going to have hundreds of new trees," said Alanis. "We've already planted 150 new trees in the area and then thousands of plants on the ground."

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They also plan to add a community kitchen and a pavilion to do things like cooking classes or informational sessions.

Read the full story at KVUE.com.

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