Falling Apart
Dear Editor,
Hello! I noticed that y’all have stopped using metal staples. Now, when I toss it in my car as I go from place to place, the paper goes all over and out of order! I would love it if y’all brought back metal staples. Even just one to hold it all together. It would be one less thing in this world that’s falling apart….
Meredith Williams
Production/Art Director Zeke Barbaro responds: Dang! Yeah, we miss having staples sometimes too. Unfortunately, it’s out of our hands. After our printer upgraded to a new printing press back in mid-March, we were informed that stitching (i.e. stapling) was no longer an option. Maybe someday we’ll see the return of staples (and global stability, too, while we’re at it) but it might be a while. Until then… happy reading, and hold on tight!
University Discord
Dear Editor,
This week, KUT General Manager Debbie Hiott was fired by UT after a conflict between the university and its public radio station. In May, KUT held its first KUT Fest, featuring panels with journalists and elected officials. Yet, right before the event, UT intervened, claiming organizers failed to coordinate with the university. Hiott pushed back, saying she and her team spent months working with UT leading up to the event.
She is only the latest in a long line of faculty members to be terminated. Roughly one-third of UT’s deanships are in flux, senior administrators have left citing ideological differences, and more faculty stand to be lost as the university moves forward with the consolidation of its ethnic and gender studies programs this fall.
As a recent UT graduate who led a political student organization, I could not help but draw similarities between KUT Fest and my own experience trying to bring political speakers to campus each week. Event requirements seemed to change by the day, and at one point, I, too, was told I could not host certain speakers even after complying with the university’s arduous approval processes. However, if UT is so wary of political programming, it demonstrated a striking capacity for accommodation when it closed portions of campus for days just to host Justice Clarence Thomas this past April.
I still love my alma mater, which is why I find it so difficult to ignore the gap between its rhetoric and its actions. On the rare occasions President Davis emerges to speak publicly about the university, he often praises the value of differing perspectives, though the university’s actions suggest some perspectives are more welcome than others.
Ally Flores
Orders of Magnitude Worse
Dear Editor,
There are certain mathematical complexities that are difficult to cope with on a practical level. Fortunately, engineers over time have become talented at the art of the simplifying assumption.
For example, the constant pi has infinite digits, but NASA only uses 15 of them. Practically speaking, the gain you get from employing greater precision is trivial compared to its expense.
Similar practical consideration applies to conceptualizing wealth. A millionaire, effectively speaking, has a million dollars more than a normal person. A billionaire has about a billion more than a millionaire, and a trillionaire, for practically all intents and purposes, has a trillion more than a billionaire.
The mere existence of billionaires indicates extreme systematic problems. Now we have a trillionaire, and that’s orders of magnitude worse. It’s indicative of a system and society that’s gone from decadent to obscene.
Sincerely,
Liam Mathison Farmer
You Can’t Stay Here
Dear Editor,
Pushing homeless people from one camp to another camp is senseless and inhumane [“The Vicious Cycle of Homeless Camp Sweeps,” News, June 12]. What happened to the hotels purchased by the City Council for the homeless? I recall reading that those hotels fell into a state of disarray, and were unable to be used for the homeless. Interested in hearing an update.
The homeless issue cannot be addressed just with housing. Many of these individuals suffer from mental illness and addiction. Placing them in a hotel room or tiny house, without other services (medication, therapy, detox, training, employment opportunities) is a waste, and does not work.
When and what will it take for the city of Austin to take action that works?
Marjorie Davidson
This article appears in June 19 • 2026.