'There's nothing I can't do': UT students start fall semester optimistic, excited

A burnt-orange banner above Dean Keeton Street, dozens of student booths lining Speedway, and a bouncing Bevo made out of balloons on the Main Mall can only mean one thing.

The Longhorns are back to school.

On Monday, tens of thousands of University of Texas students returned to campus for their first day of classes, greeted by free ice cream, UT swag and snacks by the Tower.

“Their energy, their enthusiasm, their passion is tremendous,” UT President Jay Hartzell said in an interview Thursday about students coming back to campus. “The return of the students' energy back to campus is always a really special time.”

Ranked the best public school in Texas by U.S. News & World Report this year, UT has about 52,000 total students and more than 170 undergraduate degrees. It has 19 colleges and schools.

Students walked around campus and on the Drag on Monday in burnt orange, smiling and cheery.

“The people you meet on the street, the people you meet walking to class and the people in your classes — it’s a very genuine experience,” said Rifa Momin, a returning sophomore. “It’s very special … how much people love to be here. And I think that makes other people love it.”

The Class of 2028 — selected from 73,000 applications, a 10% increase from last year — was its most competitive yet, Hartzell said.

Jocelynne Salinas grew up in Austin near the campus and is now a first-year student in engineering. She is looking forward to joining organizations such as Women in Engineering and is still in disbelief that she's officially a college student.

“UT has always been the greatest option for me,” Salinas said. “Walking around, it feels like I'm actually a college student. It hasn't, like, hit me yet.”

Kenneth Rangel, who is coming back to UT after two years, said the campus feels “revitalized” after the pandemic. He said he hopes to join intramural sports once the semester gets rolling.

“It feels great,” Rangel said. “Seeing a lot more people in the FAC (Flawn Academic Center), where I used to study, is very, very exciting.”

Over the summer, UT celebrated joining the Southeastern Conference and an $840 million award from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency to continue its semiconductor work. The university also unveiled its graduate housing complex in East Austin and renewed its West Campus Ambassadors program.

But the summer also saw fallout from the April pro-Palestinian protests on campus. UT pursued disciplinary action against students who were arrested at the protests for suspected rules violations, a Faculty Council committee accused administrators of violating school rules in how they handled the protests, and American-Statesman reporting revealed that the school tightened its free speech policies after the spring.

Hartzell said that higher education as a whole had a challenging year last semester, but he is hopeful this year is a “reset” in which people engage in expression within UT’s speech rules. He also pointed to unifying events, such as the universitywide graduation that followed the protests, as what he hopes is a turning point.

“I think it was a tough spring, but graduation was really special,” Hartzell said. “It hopefully is the launching pad for another great year.”

Morgan Walz, an undeclared second-year student, said he was disappointed with the university’s response to the protests. Though he thought about transferring to UT-San Antonio, he decided to stay.

“There’s no other opportunity like this,” Walz said of UT-Austin. “I'm going to try to uphold my own values of inclusion and being open and stuff like that, because that's what the campus should be.”

This is also the first semester in which students will not have the support of programs in the nixed Division of Campus and Career Engagement and the Women’s Community Center as well as the 49 former diversity, equity and inclusion staff members who were terminated April 2.

Kenna Nyuga-Galega, a sophomore studying computer science, gathered with friends in the former Multicultural Engagement Center, closed due to the anti-DEI Senate Bill 17. She said the work of belonging will continue through the student organizations.

“We're all working together to make sure that our presence isn't gone,” Nyuga-Galega said. “It's kind of annoying that our school isn't supporting us anymore and we are helping ourselves, but it's not knocking us out.”

Nyuga-Galega said she is excited for the year. She said the student organizations are strong and adapting, supporting Black freshmen through Mooove-In and supporting each other as they enter the year. She also feels pride for being at UT and is excited to make new memories.

“If I’m at UT, there’s nothing I can’t do,” Nyuga-Galega said. “It gives me the confidence that I’m on the right path.”

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: 'There's nothing I can't do': UT students start fall semester optimistic, excited