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UT Austin wants to change the assigned classes required of future undergraduates. It’s the first such change in more than two decades.
The city of Austin is gathering feedback about the possibility of renaming Cesar Chavez Street after the labor leader was accused of sexual assault. How you can make your voice heard.
Have you ever wondered how clean your favorite Austin restaurant really is? KUT has a new map where you can search for food inspection scores.
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The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:08] The University of Texas at Austin wants to change the assigned classes required of future undergraduates. It’s the first such change in more than two decades. We’re gonna tell you more about the shift. And the city of Austin is gathering feedback about the possibility of renaming Caesar Chavez Street after the labor leader was accused of sexual assault. We’ll tell you how you can make your voice heard on the matter. That’s coming up on today’s show.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:30] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Jerry Quijano.
Jerry Quijano [00:00:35] It is Friday, and maybe like me, you’re wondering where you’re gonna eat tonight in Austin, and maybe unlike me, you’re wandering how clean the glasses and dishes you’re going to be using really are. If that is giving you some pause, well, we’re gonna tell you about a new map that should help quell your fears, plus a whole lot more from the busy week that was here in Austin. That’s next on Austin Signal. Howdy out there, this is Austin Signal. I’m your host, Jerry Quijano. It is Friday, August 14th. Thank you for tuning in. UT Austin announced this week its plan to completely overhaul its core curriculum for undergraduate students for the first time in more than 20 years. In an email, UT Austin President Jim Davis called the new core requirements a, quote, clear, focused, and rigorous program of study that delivers a broad and thorough general education, end quote. Lily Kepner is higher education reporter for the Austin American Statesman and she’s with us now for more. Hello, Lily.
Lily Kepner [00:01:43] Hi, good to see you again.
Jerry Quijano [00:01:44] Good to see you. So tell us, what do we know so far about this new curriculum?
Lily Kepner [00:01:48] So every university in the state was charged with looking at their core curriculum, but UT decided to do a different approach and suggest a complete rebuild. So while other institutions are looking at which courses should and shouldn’t qualify, UT says let’s just throw that away and start fresh. So their proposal has 15 credits in arts and humanities, nine credits in social sciences, and 12 credits in STEM, with a few component areas underneath that describe what the courses should be, but. Basically, they want to undertake a very bold rebuild that emphasizes civic education and classic education over more narrow courses.
Jerry Quijano [00:02:32] This was something that was announced yesterday but has been in motion for a long time. How was this new curriculum formed?
Lily Kepner [00:02:38] Yeah, so there was an appointed committee that President Jim Davis set up with, at first it was 18 faculty, but it grew to about 22 faculty. And this group started meeting in November and met every week for about an hour and a half, though I’m sure there were, you know, exceptions as, you now, some days are crazy, right? And… The committee first looked at the current core altogether, what UT was currently offering and what some of the problems were with that, that they were hearing from students that they consulted and faculty, and then they split into two groups, one STEM-focused and one more humanities-focused and looked into what the core requirements in their view should be.
Jerry Quijano [00:03:20] This is the first time the core is going to be changing in more than two decades. What was the impetus this time around?
Lily Kepner [00:03:26] It depends on who you ask, but this is all happening in the climate of this new law, Senate Bill 37, where lawmakers really wanted universities to look at the core courses that every student has to take and make sure that they’re foundational, relevant to workforce in civic life and broad and this was happening as President Jim Davis in 2025 ended UT’s flag requirements, which were their additional skills and experience requirements for students on top of the state’s core. So he did that while the specific qualifications in the law were being debated. This core curriculum committee really tried to stay insulated from a lot of the noise that was happening around, you know, if race and gender-based courses should be in the core curriculum, how other states were dealing with core curriculum and really just tried to focus on what should a core foundation for all students be.
Jerry Quijano [00:04:28] You reported earlier this month that UT opened a center for humanities, but hadn’t revealed many details about its creation. Have you learned any more about that, and do we know what role, if any, that might have played in or will play in this new curriculum?
Lily Kepner [00:04:40] Yeah, so interestingly enough, when I talked to the head of the committee, of the faculty committee, he said that they didn’t specifically ask for there to be a new center for humanities. However, this rebuild of the core curriculum will require a lot more staff and resources to support the new courses in humanities that would meet the new requirements such as great questions of human life, Western civilization, U.S. History. So what? The university, it looks like they set this up to help meet some of those requirements. I haven’t learned more about how the faculty were selected in the initial 14 that were hired for this. They are hiring for more faculty. I’m not sure how many more, and the university has not been willing to answer the statesman question or the Texas Tribune’s questions on the Center for Humanities.
Jerry Quijano [00:05:37] Okay, last question for you, what have you heard so far from students and faculty?
Lily Kepner [00:05:42] I talked to the student government leaders, Keira Dixon and Jayden Watts, yesterday after the meeting. They were there at the Board of Regents meeting, and they said that they felt really, you know, included in what was happening, and I think the former student government administration before them had also been consulted about the core curriculum. And students seem, you know, dissatisfied with the current state of the core. It feels more like a grab bag of classes, according to President Jim Davis, to students than, you know, something robust and meaningful. Faculty are kind of across the board. Some are worried about the future of signature courses, which are a key portion of UT’s core curriculum now, and are worried about things like lab requirements that aren’t specifically detailed. But the implementation of this will take a long time, and so hopefully there will be time to get those questions answered before, you know, the first class is required to take these.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:41] And this curriculum is set to go into effect when, if it indeed does get passed.
Lily Kepner [00:06:45] If it gets passed, which will take action at the state level, it will go into effect as soon as fall 2028, potentially not until later.
Jerry Quijano [00:06:54] All right, that is Lily Kepner. She is the higher education reporter for the Austin American Statesman. We’ll have a link to her reporting in today’s show notes. Lily, thank you. Thank you so much. And a quick note, KUT journalists are University of Texas employees. University leaders do not review or approve KUT news coverage. For today’s On Our Plate segment of the show, we want to ask you a dirty question. Have you ever been eating at a restaurant and see something that just didn’t sit right with you? Maybe a roach, a greasy glass, or maybe you’ve wondered if the plates you’re using have even been cleaned correctly. KUT’s Gabriel Velasquez-Neda followed an Austin public health inspector to figure out what they do to make sure local restaurants are keeping food safe.
Gabriel Velasquez Niera [00:07:52] When I moved to Austin, I noticed something missing, something I was used to seeing in other states like New York or California. And restaurants here don’t display signs that show their latest health department scores. For me, it kind of felt like I was eating without a safety net. In Texas, restaurants of course get inspected and they have a rating. So I wanted to learn more about the whole process, even if I don’t see a score. Meet Alicia Wilcox. Hi. She joined me at Amaya’s Taco Village. Wilcox is an environmental health officer with the city of Austin, and she’s been doing inspections for five years. Now, legally, non-health workers can’t be in the kitchen while an inspection is happening, but Amaya’s Taco Village is letting us do a mock inspection. The business was inspected and passed back in July. Another difference between this and a real inspection is the restaurant knew we were coming.
Alicia Wilcox [00:08:45] The only time they know we’re coming back is, of course, if they fail, we don’t tell them what day we’re going back. But they know in general, it’s gonna be within two to four weeks.
Gabriel Velasquez Niera [00:08:54] As we walk in the door, we meet co-owner Richard Amaya, and then head back into the kitchen to start the mock inspection. It’s the lunch rush, and workers at Amaya’s Taco Village are cooking on full throttle. Workers are moving around, grilling food, serving plates, and carrying containers. Meanwhile, Wilcox is checking the temperatures of the ingredients.
Alicia Wilcox [00:09:14] The temps are great, everything’s nice and hot.
Gabriel Velasquez Niera [00:09:17] Asking Amaya for more information.
Alicia Wilcox [00:09:19] This is where they buy daily.
Gabriel Velasquez Niera [00:09:22] She says a lot of things are taken on an honor system.
Alicia Wilcox [00:09:25] We can tell if something is raw or cooked, but whenever we ask what time it was cooked, a lot of times they don’t know.
Gabriel Velasquez Niera [00:09:32] Wilcox has a checklist that covers things like clean cooking surfaces, food separation, proper food labeling, dishwashers.
Alicia Wilcox [00:09:39] Oh, you need dirty dishes to run.
Gabriel Velasquez Niera [00:09:42] Yeah, he’s got some.
Alicia Wilcox [00:09:43] If you want, we can just put a plate on there and run it back through.
Gabriel Velasquez Niera [00:09:47] And proper labeling on menus.
Alicia Wilcox [00:09:49] I’m gonna look for the consumer advisory and that any raw items are undercooked are asterisks.
Gabriel Velasquez Niera [00:09:55] The highest score is 100. A score below 69 is failing. Every mistake takes a few points off. If a restaurant fails, they have to pay a fee, and the inspector comes back to re-inspect and see if they pass. If it does, the restaurant is placed on a compliance list for the next three years. If the restaurant fails again within the three years, a criminal complaint is filed in court. If the restaurants fails a third time, it is closed. The restaurant then has to meet with the program manager at Austin Public Health and they have to create an action plan for what they need to do to reopen. An inspector can also close the restaurant immediately.
Alicia Wilcox [00:10:33] For us to close for an infestation would mean that the food is directly impacted that a customer would be served. Sometimes there’s immediate closures if there’s a sewage backup. If the establishment doesn’t have the ability to wash and sanitize their dishes because their drains are backing up, then that would be a closure until they can fix what’s going on.
Gabriel Velasquez Niera [00:10:55] Wilcox says she’s closed about 10 to 15 restaurants over her five years on the job. But even with a passing score on display, it can be hard to know what a restaurant did and didn’t do to get that score.
Alicia Wilcox [00:11:06] It can be a lot of temperature violations, or they’re not cooking the food to the proper temperatures. Those are items they’re going to necessarily know how long something was at a temp where we would know as the inspector.
Gabriel Velasquez Niera [00:11:19] KUT compiles a list of the food inspection scores in the city of Austin. You can check it out at our website, kut.org. I’m Gabriel Velázquez Neira in Austin.
Jerry Quijano [00:11:36] And joining us now for a Reporter’s Notebook to talk about this story is Gabriel Velazquez-Neda. Welcome to the show. Thank you, Jerry. So your story looks at thousands of food safety scores. How did you go about sourcing this data and sorting through all of it?
Gabriel Velasquez Niera [00:11:51] Yeah, so there’s actually something called Open Data Austin, which is what gave me the idea, and it has all of the food scores. But I realized kind of quickly that it wasn’t updated as recently as I wanted it to. It only had scores through May. So I ended up having to scrape this other data set that Austin Public Health had and compiling it, making sure that the scraper caught all the scores. And even then there are some restaurants that are left out of the database. And I had to check up with Austin Public Health. And they told me that they switched databases. So that just means that some scores aren’t in there. They switched.
Jerry Quijano [00:12:28] They switched in the course of your reporting?
Gabriel Velasquez Niera [00:12:30] They switched in 2025, or last year, so some scores just haven’t turned over yet.
Jerry Quijano [00:12:36] Gotcha, okay, well, were there any other roadblocks that you ran into while reporting this story? Like, you know, you mentioned that the switch of the data, any other things that made this reporting a little tougher?
Gabriel Velasquez Niera [00:12:48] I think the verification that all the data was correct was the hardest part, but I also didn’t know that it was against the law for non-health workers or people, journalists like me, to go into a health inspection. So I wanted to do a day in the life originally. I wanted follow them throughout the course of the day, different restaurants. And I realized pretty quickly that was impossible. Setting up that even just one mock inspection took about a month and a half.
Jerry Quijano [00:13:13] Did it feel pretty real though, even though it was a mock? Or could you, what was that actually like?
Gabriel Velasquez Niera [00:13:18] I did think it felt real, like you could see the workers’ tents up when we walked in the door. I walked to the front and I’m like, hey, we’re here for an inspection. And like, you can see like the hostess’s eyes flick up. That makes sense.
Jerry Quijano [00:13:31] All right, were there any other surprises that you found? I know this story kind of started with a surprise. You were shocked that these scores weren’t readily available. Were there any surprises that jumped out at you?
Gabriel Velasquez Niera [00:13:43] I didn’t know that they’re they’re put on a compliance list the restaurants once they fail for about three years and I feel like that’s a long time. Three years is a lot a lot can happen in three years. So the fact that the compliance list lasts for so long was one of the things I guess caught me off guard during the reporting.
Jerry Quijano [00:13:59] Okay, well now that you’ve done all this reporting, do you feel better about going to eat out here in Austin?
Gabriel Velasquez Niera [00:14:05] I do, but.
Jerry Quijano [00:14:06] I try not to think about it.
Gabriel Velasquez Niera [00:14:07] I feel like some of the grime gives it taste.
Jerry Quijano [00:14:11] Very good, all right, that is KUT’s Gabriel Velasquez-Neda. Be sure to check out his interactive map of restaurant inspections, that is in today’s podcast show notes and at kut.org slash signal. Thank you for your reporting. Of course, thank you, Joey. And the city of Austin is taking the temperature on whether it should rename Cesar Chavez Street. A handful of community members gathered earlier this week at the Austin Central Library to give their feedback on the potential change. Gary Moreno who teaches Latino history at Austin Community College was there in support of the change.
Gary Moreno [00:14:44] We’re presented with an opportunity here to highlight somebody who can be a role model for our students, and I think that’s very important. History changes. We need new heroes, and this presents the city with an opportunity for a new hero.
Jerry Quijano [00:14:59] Moreno hopes the city will select a local Latino hero as a replacement. The city will host two more public feedback sessions. The next is happening tomorrow at 2 p.m. At Sanchez Elementary School. And a virtual session is set for Tuesday night at six. You can also fill out an online survey at speakupaustin.org. We’ve got more show after this break. This is Austin Signal. This is, Austin Signal, welcome back. There are so many stories of how folks came to live in Austin. For Yousef Shabo, it’s a harrowing tale. In 2011, civil war broke out in Syria, pulling the country into a conflict that lasted more than a decade. Hundreds of thousands of people were murdered, and an estimated 13 million Syrians were displaced, including Shabo. He was in college when the war began, and to avoid being drafted, he fled his homeland and left his family behind. Since then, he and his family have reunited here in the U.S. And together they now run a coffee shop located in a laundromat.
Youssef Shabo [00:16:00] We’re Kurds from Syria, we’re a minority there. And because we’re minorities, we’re usually placed on the front lines, so that’s a little riskier than usual. And the only thing you can do is just leave the country. I didn’t say goodbye to any of my friends, to any family members, I just had to leave, you know. Like, we got the phone call, I think around like midnight or 2 a.m., and then by 8 a. M. I had my flight booked, and it was like a few hours later. After moving to the U.S. In 2012, drip coffee did not make it for me. It’s just too light, you know, it didn’t hit the spot. So personally I started learning about like mocha pots and espressos and French press and you know all these things, but like as a personal hobby. I lived in Ohio for four cold years and then moved to Austin for UT and honestly like the community in Austin is amazing for coffee. I worked in architecture for like three, four years and I mean honestly working in the industry was not for me. My brother, he was a network developer, he also got laid off and we both sat down look at each other like you know what so let’s start something, you know, that we own. I used to go to this laundromat. I remembered the place and we went to talk to the owner and I was like, Hey, he used to be a customer. I would like to partner up with this on this idea. He liked the idea. We started meeting every week. We were talking, so the owner is from Vietnam and we’re from Syria. We grew up drinking Turkish coffee. He has a family that runs coffee business between Vietnam and Europe. And so we both kind of liked that idea and we just went with it. So right now we utilized the faces of old dryers that were functional at some point in that same laundromat. And then after remodeling, we asked the owner to clear out a section of the laundromats. To kind of accommodate the coffee shop. And we use that for the counter space. So we opened and as like we start talking to people, word of mouth is going out. You realize that people are interested in our stories more than the coffee itself. And then they start asking us about like, oh, well, why don’t you offer something, you know, from your culture. When we did the little soft opening party, my mom made a couple of trays of baklava and people really loved them. And we were like, oh, maybe we’ll have them on the weekend, because my mom has a, like she’s a nanny, she has a full-time job. And I’m like, I don’t want you to work more. Like the idea behind this cop shop is for you to work less, not to work harder. We agreed with her to do the baklava like once a week, maybe. But then, on a Tuesday or a Wednesday, she’ll walk in with a little tray. It’s like, here you go, I made some more. And people really love the baklava that she makes. And so right now, it became, you know. A staple at the coffee shop. Honestly, the one thing that I’ve learned out of this is adaptability. Whatever life throws at you, you have to figure out a way to make the best of it and just run with it. So yeah, I mean right now I’m living my best life. I’m telling people I’m physically very tired, but mentally very happy.
Jerry Quijano [00:19:22] That was the voice of Yusef Shabo. This piece was produced by Texas Standard’s Sean Saldana. It is the end of the week and we know there’s a lot of things going on this weekend so let’s get started with today’s Where the Art is segment. KUT’s art beat editor Stephanie Federico is in the studio with us now for a quick rundown. Hello Stephanie.
Stephanie Federico [00:19:47] Hey Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:19:48] Welcome back to the show. Let’s talk about what’s happening this weekend. There’s always some sort of fest going on here in Austin this weekend, what is the fest du jour?
Stephanie Federico [00:19:57] It is the SketchFest, Austin SketchFes at Coletown Theater this weekend and next weekend.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:03] Okay, and who’s going to be featured out at this year’s events?
Stephanie Federico [00:20:07] Well, some of the country’s best sketch comedians come into town for the event. Andrew Desmuks, am I pronouncing that right? From SNL.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:16] I think so, I think you are. He’s gonna be. Apologies if we’re not.
Stephanie Federico [00:20:19] I know, sorry. Sorry, Andrew.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:20] I don’t know what I drew.
Stephanie Federico [00:20:21] He’s going to be one of the headliners this year. He actually went to UT, I just learned, and he started his comedy career here in Austin. So that’s pretty cool. And Allie Dixon will also be in town if you’re familiar with her. It’s just really known as a festival to showcase new comedians, comedians on the rise. So it should be exciting.
Jerry Quijano [00:20:41] Yeah, and that’s it going on this weekend and next and as you said, there’s always some future star that’s going to be out there So get started early. Okay. So let’s talk about a revolutionary cabaret that’s happening this weekend. Tell us more
Stephanie Federico [00:20:54] Emiliana a revolution cabaret that opens today and it runs through August 29th at ground floor theater.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:01] Okay, what’s it about?
Stephanie Federico [00:21:02] And this takes place in 1940s Mexico. It’s the story of a young woman who leads a double life. So she is the daughter of a prominent doctor. She’s about to get married. She’s bout to have this respectable life, but in the evening, she sneaks out and she is a cabaret singer. And then she meets up with some people and she wants to join the revolution. So it sounds really cool. It’s told through a lens of social justice for indigenous people in the queer community. And that is. At ground fourth leader. I think I already said that but.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:32] That’s okay, you gotta mention it a couple of times because people hear what this show is about and they get excited, so yeah, ground floor theater, let’s say it one more time.
Stephanie Federico [00:21:39] Just do it, man.
Jerry Quijano [00:21:40] Okay, so that’s again the ground floor, but we there’s something happening also at the Wally Workman gallery That’s one of my favorite gallery names Wally workman gallery. What’s happening there?
Stephanie Federico [00:21:50] This is a solo show from Lance Meyers. It’s called As We Unmagic the Self, and I love that name. Lance is actually a UT professor here. He teaches animation, and he’s the lead animator of the Stoic Studio, but this exhibit is not animation. He does some oil paintings. He has 14 new paintings, and they’re very melancholy. It’s very quiet, very lush colors. And the work apparently explores youth and its inevitable decay. So I just looked at the website, the images look beautiful and I’m excited for that one.
Jerry Quijano [00:22:29] Okay, that sounds really sounds really pretty even though the now that I’m thinking about the decay of youth I’m a little sad unfortunately. All right. Let’s talk about something else Okay, all of those things are available to you this very day But there’s also more things happening throughout the weekend including tomorrow a little noir string action. What is that about?
Stephanie Federico [00:22:49] This is at the gallery at the Cathedral in East Austin. And if you’ve never been to the Cathedral, it’s a really cool space. It used to be a church, 1930s church. It’s been refurbished and now it’s an art gallery featuring artists, artwork by women and non-binary artists. So they’re gonna have three string sessions on Saturday, one hour performances, a string quartet with the vocalist, Nala, and there’s gonna be a cocktail hour ahead of time and you can go check out the art. But I’m The music is gonna be a classical to contemporary, Debussy, Nina Simone, Billie Eilish. It sounds like it could be really, really cool.
Jerry Quijano [00:23:25] Really running the gamut there. Okay, the final item on your list here is happening, Twilight on Sunday, what is that?
Stephanie Federico [00:23:33] Uh, this is Austin Cantorum and this is just, just this beautiful coral group. And I went to their last twilight series. It’s a coral meditation series. They had one a few months ago and what it is, is you’re invited to bring a yoga mat. You’re invited, to bring pillows, just put away your phone, lie down on the ground and just listen to them sing. And they have just like stunning, stunning, standing voices. Um, and it feels, it’s not religious, but it feels really, really spiritual. Thank you. And you just like, just put away the world for a little while. And you’re invited to sing along. I think you can come early and learn what they’re going to, what they are going to present, but if you don’t want to do that, just close your eyes, lie down and it’s free with a suggested donation of $15. But, uh, yeah, it’s really just, I really highly recommend it’s lovely.
Jerry Quijano [00:24:19] Sounds beautiful sounds like a great audio experience that is Stephanie Federico. She is the art beat editor here at KUT. Thank you, Stephanie
Stephanie Federico [00:24:27] Thanks, Jerry.
Jerry Quijano [00:24:28] And thank you out there for spending the week with us. You can catch up on all the work we brought you this week at kut.org slash signal. The Austin Signal team is Renee Chavez, Caroline Fio, Alexandra Hart, Kristin Cabrera, and I’m your host, Jerry Quijano. We’ll be back on Monday. Have a great weekend.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
