It's Friday, a day pregnant with happy possibility.

☀️ Today's weather: Sunny, with a high of 97.

🎂 Happy early birthday to our members Sue Cotter and Shayna Levy!

🪖 Situational awareness: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is visiting Austin today.

• He's scheduled to tour Capital Factory and Saronic Technologies and deliver remarks about defense innovation and technology.

Today's newsletter is 981 words — a 3.5-minute read.

As the University of Texas jettisons academic majors critical to thinking about diversity and world history, the institution is expanding its embrace of traditional great books courses.

Why it matters: The moves reflect a big pivot by UT away from some of its prominent academic, multicultural touchstones as it increasingly aligns itself with conservative-minded values.

Catch up quick: The university plans to eliminate four majors — African and African diaspora studies, Mexican American and Latina/o studies, women's and gender studies, and the race, indigeneity and migration major — following the consolidation of seven departments.

• The departments that housed those majors had roots in civil rights struggles in the 1960s and 1970s, and academic work by UT scholars in those fields was widely lauded.

Between the lines: Over the summer, the university opened a Center for Humanities, focused on teaching and research tied to UT's core curriculum.

• Many of the center's newly hired professors previously taught at the University of Florida's Hamilton School for Classical and Civic Education, which UT provost William Inboden previously directed.

What they're saying: A new proposed undergraduate core curriculum unveiled by the university is meant to prepare graduates "for successful careers, thoughtful citizenship, and purposeful lives," UT president Jim Davis wrote to the university community in August.

• A UT spokesperson did not immediately respond to an Axios question about why the majors had been eliminated.

The other side: "It is difficult to understand how removing courses that enable students to thrive in one of the most diverse states in the country will result in successful careers or thoughtful citizenship," Julie Minich, a scholar specializing in Chicano studies and an officer of the American Association of University Professors chapter at UT, wrote in the American-Statesman on Thursday.

The big picture: The shift at UT has been taking place over at least the last half-dozen years, as university leaders have unveiled institutes and centers that cater to conservatives — and, in keeping with state law, eliminated programs that address diversity and inclusion.

What's next: Students currently enrolled in the majors will be able to complete their degree — but UT has already eliminated the option to apply as an ethnic or gender studies student for fall 2027.

It very much doesn't feel like fall outside, but pumpkin spice latte is back and it's got competition.

The big picture: Caramel apple, brown sugar and maple lattes are all on the rise — even though PSL has powered fall menus for two decades.

The latest: McDonald's dropped its longtime PSL and instead rolled out caramel apple pie coffee drinks this season, saying: "Step aside pumpkin spice, there's a new flavor in town!"

Caramel, apple and cinnamon are the three most-ordered fall flavors on DoorDash, ahead of pumpkin, according to data shared with Axios.

Other flavors spicing things up:

• Brown sugar is DoorDash's breakout fall flavor of 2026, with orders up 58% year over year.
• Maple latte searches on Yelp rose 65% in July from a year earlier, while searches for "salted maple latte" jumped 591%.
• Cardamom, peanut butter and hazelnut are also among Google's top-trending latte searches.

Go deeper

🛠️ The Austin Infrastructure Academy received $2.55 million in city funding to expand workforce training aimed at filling local construction jobs. (Community Impact)

🏆 The taqueria Paprika on Burnet was named to the New York Times' 50 Favorite Restaurants in America list. (New York Times)

🚨 A SpaceX manager is accused of stabbing a Tesla contractor at a Del Valle bar over a game of pool. The victim is expected to survive. (Fox 7)

⚖️ The private University of Austin is launching a law school — but without accreditation from the American Bar Association. (Austin American-Statesman 🔒)

Now's your chance to show your local news smarts.

Take our weekly news quiz — just click that link — and see if we can stump you.

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👋 Asher here, your tireless vintage correspondent.

What's happening: You should visit Lauren Owen, a stylish vintage boutique near Lamar Boulevard and West 12th Street that both celebrates and tugs at Texas style.

• It's got blue jeans, boots, gorgeous one-of-a-kind vintage clothes, an awesome array of belt buckles and trucker caps — clothes that are both very wearable but also very stylish.
• But also, tucked here and there at its beautifully curated store in the little retail center behind the Tavern, books like "Class," Paul Fussell's 1983 guide to social class in America.

Full disclosure: It's owned by my very easygoing neighbors, Lauren Mahoney and Matthew Owen.

• Previously they were branding and creative executives at Outdoor Voices and Urban Outfitters — but now that they're running a small business, it's not uncommon to see them hauling wares to the store.

The bottom line: If you're looking for a singular, Texas-y gift for your out-of-town friend or for yourself — or you just want a fun browse, head to their shop.

Bob Gee edited this newsletter.

🎤 Asher is talking covers with his kids by playing this and this and this and this.

🎉 Nicole is off to Italy for her friends wedding — and then Munich for Oktoberfest. Reply to this email with any last-minute recommendations for Cinque Terre, Florence and Munich.

Enjoy your weekend, folks.