AUSTIN (KXAN) — The University of Texas at Austin President Jay Hartzell will deliver the annual State of the University address Wednesday afternoon. He'll focus on how the university continues "to advance excellence and innovation and create the most comprehensive and impactful academic experience" for students. This comes after an eventful year for the school. In late April, pro-Palestinian protests broke out across campus that ended in dozens of arrests. Just this week, it was announced the school had created a new unit dedicated to free speech on campus. A new webpage provides ways students can protest while staying within the bounds of what the school finds acceptable. RELATED: UT creates ‘unit’ for free speech rights on campus Also this week, the university announced changes to its admissions process. UT Austin said it will cut down on the number of top Texas high school students automatically admitted to the university by dropping the threshold from 6% to 5%. This will affect admissions for fall 2026. UT Austin to drop automatic admissions for top Texas students to 5% in 2026 This is also the university's inaugural year in the Southeastern Conference. The State of the University address happens at 3 p.m. and will be streamed in this story and on the KXAN Facebook page.