In a point-by-point rebuttal to the university's general counsel, KUT Public Media General Manager Debbie Hiott provided dates where university officials had signed off on the festival plans.
KUT 's general manager said UT Austin leadership ordered major changes to the station's inaugural festival, resulting in event organizers moving much of the festival to two venues in East Austin.sent Wednesday evening, the University of Texas at Austin’s top lawyer accused KUT Public Media General Manager Debbie Hiott of making “false" statements about the changes the station was forced to make to its first KUT Festival, which starts Friday.had ordered the station to cancel a major part of the event, citing last-minute safety and security concerns by UT officials.
In the same message, KUT announced it decided to move much of the festival to two venues in East Austin. In the letter sent to Hiott and shared with KUT News on Wednesday, Amanda Cochran-McCall, a former top staffer in the Texas Attorney General’s Office who became the in 2023, wrote:"Contrary to your public statements, it was false to assert that you and your staff agreed to every health, security, and safety request made of KUT.
", Hiott detailed dates of meetings this month where festival organizers had received approval from university officials. "It is unfortunate that, for reasons that are unclear to me, the university was not willing to work with us on an event that would have benefited us all," she said. The communication was the latest in an increasingly tense back-and-forth exchange between Hiott and the university, which owns KUT's license to operate.
The staff of KUT, its sister music station KUTX and the daily news magazineThe first in a volley of communications came last week, according to Hiott, who described being surprised to learn from Anita L. Vangelisti, interim dean of the Moody College of Communication, that there were questions about the festival. In an interview, Hiott said that Vangelisti was also confused by the concerns from university leadership.
In response to the latest exchange, Hiott said in an interview that “every request they made, we responded to and we upped our staffing multiple times. ”KUT's general manager said she didn't know what to make of the general counsel's letter.
“It just says that I said false things, which I did not," Hiott said. Editor’s note: This story was not reviewed or edited by the station’s executive leadership or any university official before publication.
Debbie Hiott KUT KUT Festival UT Austin UT Lawyer UT Legal University Of Texas At Austin
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