- Coming up on "Austin InSight," an outbreak of protests at local schools is raising questions about free speech.

Plus, Austin's known as a top city for singles.

But what do Austinites really think of that?

"Austin InSight" starts now.

- [Announcer] Support for "Austin InSight" comes from Sally and James Gavin.

And also from Daniel L. Skret.

(bright music) (bright music continues) - Hello, and thanks for joining us.

I'm Laura Laughead.

Opposition to federal immigration enforcement is putting pressure on the Austin Police Department to clarify its policy.

This comes after advocates say a 9-1-1 call led to a Honduran woman and her 5-year-old child being detained and then deported last month.

The APD officers who responded to that 9-1-1 then called ICE after learning the woman had an administrative warrant.

Senior multimedia journalist Blair Waltman-Alexin has been following this.

Blair, we understand Police Chief Lisa Davis is working on new guidelines, but the crowd at the community meeting last week, they had a lot to say.

- Yeah, that's right, Laura.

A few hundred attended the meeting with Chief Davis and some other members of the Austin City Council.

There were lots of questions along with lots of shouting and skepticism from the crowd about how police are engaging with ICE.

- It's a question!

It's a question!

- The raucous meeting took place last Thursday at Govalle Elementary.

Chief Davis tried to assure the crowd that assisting ICE with immigration enforcement is not a top priority for APD, but he explained new state law prohibits the department from ordering officers not to engage with ICE.

But many attendees wanted more clarity on when APD will coordinate with ICE.

And some didn't feel like those questions got answered.

- Integration's not a priority.

And as we go and we're looking at calls being held for service, we're looking at direct patrols, we're getting community outreach that needs to be done.

That is the priority in the department.

- I was hoping to just find out more concrete details of what the new general orders are going to include or when we might see them, some kind of timeline.

It's possible that that was stated and I missed it, but I don't recall hearing those details.

So I'm hoping that the chief of police is gonna be working with community and getting those details out as soon as possible and as well as taking input from community members and directly impacted folks.

- Advocates also say that this confusion has disrupted life for Austin's immigrant community, including those with full legal status, as well as those who are legally seeking asylum, and those who are undocumented.

The new guidelines or general orders from the chief should be coming out soon, and that will make things clearer for police officers, even though some in the community may not like the new policy.

- But, Blair, do we have an idea of what those new general orders will look like?

- Yeah.

Chief Davis indicated in the meeting that officers would need to check in with commanders in order to wait for immigration officials, but she didn't say if there would be additional protocols for when commanders would have officers wait for ICE.

There's also no word yet on when those orders will be released, but we'll share an update whenever they're announced.

- And we will stay tuned for that update.

Blair, thank you so much for your reporting.

(bright music) Local students are also making their views known about immigration enforcement with multiple protests in recent weeks at Central Texas schools.

Hundreds of students at four Pflugerville high schools and some middle schools staged a protest last week.

- They're scared to go out because of ICE.

They're scared to go to other places.

We can't do fun things because we think that ICE will be out in the street.

- Students also have walked out of class in Leander, Manor, Austin and Hays County ISD.

And in a bizarre and violent incident last week that got nationwide attention, a man left his vehicle to argue and then fight with students near Johnson High School in Buda.

(people shouting) This video has now gone viral.

Buda police arrested 45-year-old Chad Michael Watts from Kyle charging him with two counts of assault causing bodily injury.

The video aside, we wanted to explore the legal questions raised when students stage protests like this.

Joining us now is Adam Goldstein, who is VP of Strategic Initiatives at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Education or FIRE, a group that advocates for student free speech rights.

Adam, thanks for being with us.

- Thanks for having me.

- So, Adam, a number of parents and school officials are concerned.

But can you clarify, do students legally have the right to protest?

- Students do legally have the right to protest, but walking out is not a protected way of doing that.

The 1969 Supreme Court decision Tinker v. Des Moines came out with a rule that said students have a right to speech in the public schools when what they want to do isn't going to materially disrupt the ordinary operation of school.

Unfortunately, not being there to be educated would be a material disruption of school.

So while there's methods of protest, walking out is not a protected one.

- Gotcha.

But what are the legal limits though for students who are minors also protesting during school hours?

- Well, it depends on the manner of protest they choose.

If they're protesting, as in the Tinker case, wearing an armband, wearing a button, or a t-shirt, handing out a independent student newspaper, these would all be protected methods of protest.

But the right to speech doesn't create an exception to being punished for violating other rules.

And if there's an ordinary rule that stops you from walking out in every other case it's gonna stop you from walking out to protest.

- Of course, school officials are responsible for conducting learning and teaching, ideally without disruptions.

How do they walk the line then between doing their jobs as educators, while honoring freedom of speech?

Not to mention here in Texas there's also pressure from the governor and the TEA to consider as well as safety concerns like what happened in Buda.

- Well, it's a difficult line for teachers and administrators to walk.

On the one hand, they don't want to discourage students, and they want students to understand they do have First Amendment rights in virtually every other context.

At the same time, they do have a legal obligation as employees of the state to discourage students from leaving school during the day and becoming truant.

So the goal for the administrators and the teachers, and it should be for really all state employees is to be able to articulate to the students what specifically the objection is with their protest.

Which is to say, "We understand you want to express a message, we hear the message, we still have to discipline you if you choose to leave during the school day."

- What's your advice for parents who are concerned about their kids engaging in these protests?

What should they be considering if their child chooses to do a walk out of school protest?

Civil rights icon John Lewis of course famously referred to the protest in the Civil rights era as good trouble, but there can indeed be consequences to protesting.

- Right.

From the First Amendment standpoint in terms of those consequences, by the way, the question is, are students being punished more harshly because they're choosing to walk out to go to a protest than they would be if they were choosing to be truant for some other reason?

And that could still violate the First Amendment if you punish a student more harshly because you don't like what they're saying.

But to answer the underlying question here about parents, whatever rights schools have to control the whereabouts of students, they do it in place of the parents in loco parentis, right?

So parents have the ability, if they want to, to sign their students out to go attend a protest if they want the student to protest.

But I think the real conversation has to be with the discussion about consequences, right?

You brought up John Lewis.

Well, John Lewis did suffer consequences for his expression and the long arc of history then proved him right.

The question, and this is the conversation for parents and students, is what consequences are you willing to endure in order to participate in this protest?

I mean, I would never tell someone they shouldn't protest.

I can only tell them that the law wouldn't protect this action, and they might be punished for it.

- Could minor students participating in these protests potentially be arrested?

- Well, it's not impossible, but it wouldn't in theory anyway be arrested for just being truant.

That would be a little unusual.

Ordinarily speaking, to go back to this idea of you can only punish people for engaging in the activity, not for the expression.

In most places that I'm aware of, students aren't generally arrested for skipping class.

So if someone was to choose to arrest them for skipping class, that would be viewpoint discrimination, which would also violate the First Amendment.

Whatever is ordinarily done when someone skips class is what would have to be done here in terms of a sanction to avoid violating the First Amendment.

There may be places where they ordinarily arrest people for not going to class.

That hasn't been my experience.

- Well, Adam, this is all very important legal context here.

Thank you so much for sharing your organization's insights with us.

- Glad to do it.

Anything I can do, let me know.

(bright music) - Meanwhile, Valentine's Day is this week, so we're switching gears to talk a little about love.

More specifically about dating.

Marriage rates in general have declined the last few years, but according to the Pew Research Center, a record number of young adults are delaying marriage or not getting married at all.

NBC reports nearly half of Gen Z-ers are currently single.

And "The Economist" has even labeled it a quote, "relationship recession."

An article this summer in "Vogue" went viral for wondering, "Is Having a Boyfriend Embarrassing Now?"

Austin is consistently ranked as one of the top cities for dating in the country.

Last year, WalletHub named Austin the sixth best city for singles.

And real estate marketplace Zumper listed Austin as the 10th.

Plus, the hit reality show "Love Is Blind" is casting in Austin for its next season.

But Austinites have a lot of thoughts about dating here.

So we did a little investigative journalism.

(romantic rock music) How is dating in Austin, Texas?

- It sucks.

- Dating in general in ATX is pretty non-existent.

- Not very good.

- Don't date in Austin because there is no dating scene in Austin.

There is not enough men in Timberlands down here, if you know what I'm talking about.

- Moved here four years ago from New York and New Jersey area.

Widow, and four years later I was playing pickleball and met a guy and he's a widower.

And then now it's been a year and a half.

- Oh, you see this hair?

I just did it today.

We've been hanging out, you know, for two years.

The other day disappeared from my life 'cause this is what you do when this happens.

- He saw me moving in and said to himself, "I'm gonna marry that girl one day."

The first time he saw me.

- She had beautiful hair.

(romantic rock music) - [Laura] Where's the best place you think to meet people in person?

- I don't know.

I would love to find that out.

- But I used to go to like bars and stuff like that, you know.

You just have to get outta your comfort zone.

Go places.

Hard to find anyone when you have a two-month-old who's always on your hip.

- The grocery store, the gas station, the 7-Eleven.

I have a lot of friends at 7-Eleven I've met recently, okay.

- I would say the best chance you have is going out and stuff.

But as far as apps like Hinge is definitely the best.

- Maybe not so much in the downtown area.

Maybe more Domain or maybe not so much bars, but maybe like more family places.

Also depends on what you're looking for.

- Nowadays, men want you to chase them.

Chase after them.

I don't have time for it.

- Coffee shops maybe, mutual friends maybe.

I don't know.

I'm trying to find out.

I just turned 30 this year, so, you know, we're hitting, yeah, that time where it's kind of I wanna find somebody.

(romantic rock music) - You don't have to ghost.

I mean, I think we're all adults here and, you know, communication goes a long way.

- Just have fun.

Don't date.

- [Laura] Do you have any advice for folks?

- Absolutely not.

I would love some advice though.

- Don't online date because you're liable to get chopped up in little pieces.

- Like, I come from Puerto Rico where in the first date you're gonna get married, right?

Romantic culture, blah blah.

Here, it's like the opposite.

Focus on yourself.

- I wish y'all could be there and step back in time and experience what we did.

- See, mom, I told you it's not just me.

For a better look at Austin dating trends and how we got here, we have Sara Sloan, licensed marriage and family therapist.

She was also previously a sex and relationships expert for "Cosmopolitan."

Sara, thanks so much for being here.

- Yeah, thank you for having me.

- So, Sara, we just heard them loud and clear.

Austinites for the most part don't like dating in Austin, yet we're listed as a top place for singles.

What do you make of that?

There's clearly a disconnect here.

- Sure.

Well, I think the reason it's a top place for singles is, you know, in part due to the university, right?

You're gonna have a younger culture.

There's also startup culture and the tech industry.

So you've got a large population and a younger demographic.

But I think where it becomes difficult is, you know, the fact that there's so many options, right?

You can get stuck in the paradox of choice, right?

There are too many doors, so your brain refuses to go through any of them.

And I think, you know, that comes down to some of the dating apps as well, right?

This idea of infinite choice, you know?

So the stakes aren't necessarily as high for each relationship because, you know, you can always go back in and find somebody else.

- Exactly.

You know, my mom has this phrase, "The odds are good, but the goods are odd."

Like, you can meet someone easily here, but it doesn't mean it'll be the right person.

And you mentioned dating apps.

There's a lot of dating app fatigue right now, and there are some people that are turning now to reconnecting in real life.

Like, there's Pitch-A-Friend, there's Speed Dating, there's people bringing business cards to the bar now.

What do you make of that?

- You know, I see a lot of clients that go back and forth between the apps and then wanting to meet in real life.

And I think there's a lot of merit to being able to meet in real life because it creates a human connection as opposed to, you know, I think what happens online, which it doesn't feel as real.

You know, I know that there are a bunch of new ways to do this in town, right?

I know there's supposed to be a Meet Your Next Ex I think in a week or two in Austin.

- Wow.

- And there's another great one called Timeleft, which is an app where you can meet other people that you would probably get along with and then they bring you together for dinner.

And so you get to have dinner and really see if there's a connection with anybody there.

- Okay.

I might have to write some of these down.

I haven't heard of these, but there's always something new it seems around the corner.

But, you know, we're also seeing in dating culture terms arise like the talking stage, situationships, boy sober, non-monogamy, Peter Pan syndrome.

These are all labels we're seeing about dating today.

But what are the biggest overall dating trends you're seeing?

Are people just looking for more casual options these days?

- You know, I think a lot of the men are.

I think you can certainly see that in, you know, some of the groups that you're finding online now.

In fact, with the ease of dating apps, you know, there's a lot of deception that goes on.

And I think women are trying to counter that now.

- What do you predict the future of dating here?

- You know, I think it's gonna become more targeted, you know, based on socioeconomics, education, special interest, you know, for better or worse, because I think, you know, that's what I'm seeing, even if you look at the dating apps.

They're becoming more niche, and I think that's gonna continue.

- And also with the economy getting worse, dating is expensive.

It is an investment.

I know that's discouraging some people.

It's not that people, you know, don't wanna find love.

It's that it's gotten harder in many ways.

And as a professional, what is your advice on how people can meet other singles and really date intentionally in 2026?

- You know, I think it's just being upfront from the very beginning and then using your intuition, you know, and seeing when you find a person, you know, letting them know like, "Okay, I'm looking for something serious."

I think that's okay to do.

And I think it helps set the trajectory in terms of where you want it to go next.

- It does seem radically simple, just being honest, being upfront, communication.

It seems simple, yet I don't really know if we're seeing it as often as we should.

Definitely I've been taking notes, and I hope some other people I know have been taking notes too.

Sara Sloan, licensed marriage and family therapist here in Austin.

Thank you so much for these tips, and I hope this helps all of us find love this year.

- Thank you.

(romantic rock music) - Speaking of famous relationships from Romeo and Juliet to Antony and Cleopatra, now we're talking Shakespeare, who's enjoying yet another surge in modern day popularity due to the Oscar-nominated film "Hamnet."

It tells the story of William Shakespeare's family life and a tragic loss while writing perhaps his most famous play, "Hamlet."

- I am myself indifferent.

- I am myself indifferent.

On it again.

- Do you not wonder what is in it?

- [Speaker] In what?

- [Speaker] The play.

(uplifting music) - [Speaker] What should I do?

- Keep your heart open.

Look.

(uplifting music continues) - Shakespeare's plays are kept alive and present on local stages through the work of Austin Shakespeare.

Right now, they're working on a fresh and inventive approach to the shortest, but perhaps the bloodiest of the bard's 30 plays, "Macbeth."

Joining us now are Marc Pouhe, who plays Macbeth, and Megha Pancholi, who is the dramaturg for this production.

We'll have more on what that means in a moment, but thank you both for being here.

- Glad to be here.

- Thank you so much.

I'm excited.

- So it's interesting that "Hamlet," which is central to the movie "Hamnet," and "Macbeth," they both have such blood and death.

How do you guys enjoy working on these deeply dramatic plays and roles versus comedy?

- Well, first of all, comedy is very much based in timing and based in reaction.

But people say, and I always like to think that you play a comedy as deadly serious as possible because the humor comes out of the circumstances and the reality.

With drama, obviously you play it seriously, but you find moments of lightheartedness.

It is a violent play.

There is violence, but it's not unfounded.

And I try to motivate everything in the play through the tactics that are used, the things that I'm trying to achieve, the objectives.

So it's a great challenge and it's really enjoyable.

- I'm sure it is.

And can you explain what your role is as a dramaturg and this unique interpretation of "Macbeth"?

It's set in Africa.

So can you talk about your role and also what you hope the audience takes away from this unique approach?

- Absolutely.

So I am a consultant.

I work with some of the research on Shakespeare and about the research on the Africa adaptation aspect of this.

So we wanted to make a very understandable, digestible production of "Macbeth."

And this accomplishes exactly that and creates this sort of fictional nation that is a part of Africa.

- And part of the origin story of this specific production.

I reached out to our director.

I'm actually a board member of Austin Shakespeare.

I'm the vice president.

But I reached out to her because I read in the news about Ibrahim Traore.

He's the acting president of Burkina Faso.

It's a central African West African republic.

I was very intrigued about the idea of someone coming from military ranks and taking control of a government, which he has since 2022.

So I saw the parallels in that and Macbeth's ascension to power.

So we haven't made a specific country.

We really wanna focus on Pan-Africanism because there's different countries mentioned.

There's Madagascar, there's Egypt, there's Congo, there's the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well.

But we're really digging into that in our design elements and in our sound and our music.

We're not making specific statements about one specific country, but we're really finding that ambition and thirst for power and the consequences of that thirst are universal themes that can be addressed in Africa, in Eastern Europe, in Asia, anywhere that there's any kind of, and in our country as well.

- And you're so right, these themes, they're eerily topical in today's society.

Power, power and madness, ambition, they're universal.

Why do you think 400 years later people are still coming back to see new interpretations of Shakespeare's work?

- I'll let you tackle this one.

- There's just so much to do with the themes.

So our production of Macbeth very much focuses on themes of time, ambition, guilt, paranoia.

What happens when a character is over ambitious?

And like you mentioned, timing is everything.

So these are just timeless themes that can be adapted into various different, you know, locations, different genres, different productions.

- And also it's a great story.

These are great stories.

They're timeless stories.

They're the reason we read the Bible over and over.

They're the reason we read "The Odyssey."

They're the reason we read African fairytales, you know, "Anansi the Spider."

These are great stories that can be applied to so many different elements, different countries, different times.

Shakespeare was a genius the way he put stories together.

Yeah, he borrowed from a lot of our cultures as well.

But those are themes that are timeless.

- And what do you guys think of the popularity of the movie "Hamnet"?

Has that helped you guys with a resurgence of interest in your production?

- I've had some questions about it.

I haven't had a chance to see it.

I've been in rehearsals.

- You've been busy doing Shakespeare.

I've been busy, but I think it's always great to have any kind of outside influence, any kind of popular resurgence bring the people to the classics.

My job as an actor is not to place Shakespeare on an elevated plane.

My job is to have a 10-year-old kid come to the show, have a husband who was dragged to the theater be excited to see something.

And my first rule is if I don't understand what I'm saying, then the audience won't either.

So I wanna reach across the aisle, reach across to many different audiences, and make this as universally acceptable as possible.

- And it really seems there is a resurgence of interest in the classics.

You know, we're talking about "Wuthering Heights."

- Correct.

- You know "Hamnet."

And then there is gonna be a new adaptation of "The Odyssey" soon.

So looking forward to more productions from y'all in the future.

We wanna say break a leg to you both, Marc Pouhe and Megha Pancholi.

Thank you so much for sharing your experience about the upcoming production of "Macbeth."

- Thank you so much.

- Thank you.

(chill music) (chill music continues) (chill music continues) You may know that "Macbeth" is also called the Scottish Play because of a superstition that's saying the play's actual name out loud in a theater invokes a curse.

Some Shakespeare trivia for you as we say goodbye.

You can catch up on full episodes of "Austin InSight" in the PBS app or watch our individual stories on the Austin PBS YouTube channel.

We're sending love to you this Valentine's Day.

Thanks so much for watching.

We'll see you next time.

(bright music) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) - [Announcer] Support for "Austin InSight" comes from Sally and James Gavin.

And also from Daniel L. Skret.

(playful music)