<\/p>\n
UT fired KUT General Manager Debbie Hiott on Monday over how the station planned for its inaugural festival.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of KUT\/ Michael Minasi<\/p>\n
The University of Texas\u2019\u00a0firing of a respected journalist and general manager of public radio station KUT<\/a> reverberated from Austin to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, raising questions about the station\u2019s increasingly fraught relationship with UT.<\/p>\n University officials terminated Debbie Hiott on Monday over her planning of the station\u2019s inaugural community festival. Days before the festival was set to take place, UT leaders\u00a0ordered KUT to scale back its plans<\/a> over security concerns, prompting the station to move some events off campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Some worried that the university was attempting to curtail political speech at the event, where Democratic U.S. Sen. Cory Booker was the keynote speaker.\u00a0Hiott\u2019s public response has since brought questions about whether security concerns were a pretext to remove the festival from campus.<\/p>\n Over the past year, universities in Texas and across the nation\u00a0\u2014 including UT\u00a0\u2014 have faced tremendous pressure to curtail left-leaning speech.\u00a0<\/p>\n New UT leaders have promised to rid the university of any\u00a0liberal bias<\/a>\u00a0and made controversial decisions\u00a0\u2014 from ending transgender health services<\/a> to consolidating ethnic and gender studies<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 that have prompted concerns<\/a> that UT is pushing a conservative agenda. They\u2019ve also been increasingly hostile to the media, with President Jim Davis refusing to talk to media outlets <\/a>in his first term in office.<\/p>\n At the same time, President Donald Trump has accused public broadcasting of liberal bias,<\/a> and congressional Republicans have slashed its funding.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In the day after Hiott\u2019s firing, Austin Democrats and journalism advocates sounded the alarm over what the decision could mean for KUT\u2019s future.<\/p>\n \u201cKUT is an Austin institution,\u201d said U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, an Austin Democrat. \u201cDebbie Hiott is a hero for speaking out, no matter the consequences. The White House, and now UT, are trying to crack down on those they think are disobedient. I demand full transparency about what led to Debbie\u2019s firing.\u201d<\/p>\n State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, called the situation \u201cyet another example of the state\u2019s power not being used to the benefit of the community or Texas but to suppress any dissent.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe\u00a0(Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas) is committed to transparency in public institutions and the free flow of information to the people of our state,\u201d said the foundation, where\u00a0Hiott is a board member, in a statement. \u201cWe are concerned that the firing of Debbie\u00a0Hiott as general manager of KUT is contrary to both of these principles.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Hiott, who was a longtime top editor for the American-Statesman, said in a social media post on Tuesday that she hopes the community will continue to support KUT. But in an interview with the station, she also said that UT is no longer an appropriate home for the public radio institution.\u00a0<\/p>\n KUT has operated at UT<\/a> for its entire 68-year existence. It is a common practice for the Federal Communications Commission to license local stations to universities, which began acquiring and partially funding radio stations in the 1920s<\/a> in an effort to expand their community impact.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a clear sign that a community asset as important as KUT should not be in the hands of an institution that doesn\u2019t have any sense of accountability or concern for the community,\u201d Hiott said. \u201cMy hope would be that the university would relinquish the licenses to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Multiple members of KUT\u2019s advisory board did not return calls seeking comment or had no comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n KUT General Manager Debbie Hiott led the radio station since 2019 before being fired by UT on Monday.<\/p>\n Courtesy of KUT\/ Gabriel C. P\u00e9rez<\/p>\n How top UT leaders shaped festival changes, messaging<\/p>\n Emails obtained through the Texas Public Information Act between Anita Vangelisti, interim dean of the Moody College of Communication, and Hiott paint a picture of top university leaders stepping outside their purview to find security flaws in\u00a0KUT\u2019s plans and shape messaging about the changes.<\/p>\n The top leaders involved include UT\u2019s provost, vice president for communications, senior adviser to the president and vice president of legal affairs, according to the emails.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Amanda Cochran-McCall, UT\u2019s chief legal officer, first raised concerns about the festival on April 22,\u00a0asking if KUT had obtained an exception to provide alcohol or had adequate crowd-control plans, according to an email. Hiott responded to her concerns the next day in writing, listing the policies that grant permit exceptions for alcohol sales and saying KUT was happy to make changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n But two days later, when UT canceled the outdoor portions of the event citing \u201csignificant safety and legal concerns associated with insufficient planning,\u201d Vangelisti told Hiott there was no appeals process as \u201csafety and security issues are non-negotiable.\u201d The interim dean said Hiott could ask Jay Swann, who holds a new university safety cabinet position<\/a>, for more information. At that point, Hiott told Vangelisti she had never received a list of concerns.<\/p>\n Swann forwarded a message from Hiott asking what specifically had to be cancelled to Nancy Brazziel, a chief advisor to President Davis, on Sunday, April 26. Swann later told Hiott he was \u201cnot in the place to make a decision about what events you decide to keep on the schedule for UT\u201d and referred her back to Vangelisti.<\/p>\n Vangelisti was in contact with Provost William Inboden and his chief of staff, Drayton Cullen, that weekend, asking them to approve\u00a0KUT\u2019s messaging about why it was cancelling the festival and what specific portions would be cancelled.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n As the university\u2019s chief academic officer, Inboden does not oversee public safety or communications. The university did not respond to questions about why he was involved and whether his participation in the discussion was typical.<\/p>\n \u201cHello Will, I have talked with Debbie about how to message the changes to the KUT festival and asked her to draft some language,\u201d Vangelisti wrote on April 26. She asked for his messaging approval to send to Pat Wiseman, UT\u2019s VP of media and communications. Inboden approved the draft language, which was redacted from public record.<\/p>\n In a meeting the next morning with emergency personnel and Cochran-McCall, Hiott and KUT\u2019s event planning partner, Panacea Collective, agreed to meet all of UT\u2019s requests for additional security and address any other concerns, according to notes Hiott later shared with Vangelisti.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNowhere in this conversation did I get any indication of what the issues were that led to the cancellation of the outdoor portion, but at least we have assurances that they don\u2019t see any problems going forward,\u201d Hiott wrote to the dean.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Once the event changes became public April 29, the university and Hiott gave contradictory statements about the reasons\u00a0for the festival moving off campus, escalating tensions between the parties. Cochran-McCall accused Hiott of dishonesty in her public remarks and \u201cpoor planning,\u201d saying university intervention was warranted to maintain the safety of campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hiott told the Statesman on Monday after her firing that UT officials told her that she was terminated because of insufficient security considerations and her public statements defending\u00a0KUT\u2019s planning. UT did not respond to a request for comment about the reasons for Hiott\u2019s termination. The university typically does not comment on personnel matters.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew when I spoke out against the university\u2019s lies about our festival that there might be consequences, but I had hoped that logic and sense would prevail,\u201d Hiott wrote in a social media post Tuesday. \u201cTo allow a false narrative to stand would be the antithesis of what news organizations like KUT are trying to accomplish every day.\u201d<\/p>\n Provost William Inboden was involved behind the scenes in the dispute between UT and KUT over the radio station’s inaugural festival.<\/p>\n Rodolfo Gonzalez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n UT and KUT\u2019s relationship<\/p>\n The Federal Communications Commission licensed UT to run KUT in 1958, and the station is described as a \u201cunit\u201d of UT in public messaging. However, the fallout of the festival highlights the complexity of that relationship and the university\u2019s leverage over Austin\u2019s independent radio station.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n KUT states it is editorially independent<\/a> from the university and funded wholly by the community. But KUT is closely intertwined with UT, which houses the station and processes all its expenses and payroll.<\/p>\n The station adheres to university procedures and policies and \u201cis governed by the University of Texas Board of Regents,\u201d according to financial documents<\/a> posted by the radio station. In turn, KUT staff serve as a \u201cuniversity resource for journalism expertise,\u201d and the station employs 30 college interns a year from across Central Texas, including from UT, KUT\u2019s website states.<\/p>\n UT\u2019s contribution to KUT\u2019s total annual revenue is just 6%, with about $1 million contributed through in-kind donations including facilities, IT support and payroll, according to financial statements. That amount is roughly equivalent to what the federal government provided\u00a0KUT until congressional lawmakers voted to gut support in 2025.<\/p>\n The bulk of KUT\u2019s funding\u00a0\u2014 about 86%<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 comes from community support and sponsorship.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Since Trump ordered the end of taxpayer-supported funding for NPR in May 2025, Congress and several universities have cut support for local affiliates. Penn State University trustees voted to \u201cwind down\u201d<\/a> operations at its radio station due to funding pressures in 2025, and Baylor University cut its $209,000 annual contribution to KWBU <\/a>the same year, another NPR affiliate.<\/p>\n Nationally, about 500 radio stations<\/a> are licensed to or affiliated with universities. UT is licensed to run KUT until 2029<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UT fired KUT General Manager Debbie Hiott on Monday over how the station planned for its inaugural festival.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-339869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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