The University of Austin plans to be accredited between 2028 and 2031. [4]Students are currently not eligible for federal financial aid.[5][6] The initial faculty and students are expected to be mostly those holding conservative and libertarian views. [7]
In November 2021, the university's website listed Robert Zimmer, Larry Summers, John Nunes, Gordon Gee, Steven Pinker, Deirdre McCloskey, Leon Kass, Jonathan Haidt, Glenn Loury, Joshua Katz, Vickie Sullivan, Geoffrey Stone, Bill McClay, and Tyler Cowen as being affiliated with the university.[14] Writing in The Week that month, Samuel Goldman observed that no prominent members of the board of advisors had yet resigned their academic appointments to join the University of Austin faculty, suggesting that their "lack of personal commitment casts doubt on the value of their support."[15] Kathleen Stock clarified that her role was not full-time, and that she would not move to Austin.[10]Harvard University professor Steven Pinker said that although he was part of the advisory board, he had no plans to teach there; he later resigned from the board.[16]West Virginia University president Gordon Gee said "Serving in an advisory capacity does not mean I believe or agree with everything that other advisers may share. I do not agree other universities are no longer seeking the truth nor do I feel that higher education is irreparably broken."[17]
On November 11, 2021, Robert Zimmer announced his resignation from the university board, saying that UATX had made statements about higher education that "diverged very significantly from my own views".[18] UATX put out a statement on Steven Pinker's resignation from the board, and apologized for creating "unnecessary complications" for Pinker and Zimmer due to UATX not initially clarifying what their advisory roles entailed on the venture's website.[19]
On June 9, 2022, the University of Austin was taking applications for its "Forbidden Courses" program with two-week-long sessions in the old (pre-1954) Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas, Texas.[20] Despite the name of the university, UATX first offered classes in Dallas, Texas and not Austin. Conservative philanthropist Harlan Crow provided office space in Dallas for UATX. Crow is a major donor to the university.[21]
On July 6, 2022, the school announced that Richard Dawkins had joined its advisory board.[22]
In December 2022, board member Heather Heying resigned stating that the school was not adequately invested in scientific inquiry and "does not represent my scientific and pedagogical values."[23]
In October 2023, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board gave the university certification to award degrees. The school lacked accreditation at that time. The two-year certification to grant degrees can be extended for up to eight years, by which time it must achieve accreditation to continue.[1][24]
In November 2023, the university began accepting applications for its first four-year undergraduate cohort enrolling in Fall 2024, and established a campus in Austin's Scarbrough Building. The entire class of 100 students would receive full four-year scholarships, paid from private donations the university had raised.[1]As of November2023[update], the university had raised $200 million from 2,600 donors.[1]
As of November2023[update], UATX said it had received over 6,000 inquiries from potential faculty.[1]
In June 2024, the University of Austin announced a $5 million bitcoin endowment with cryptocurrency platform Unchained. [25]
The current faculty consists of 19 men and 4 women. [27]
Academics
UATX plans to be a selective institution and use standardized testing. It will not to use race, gender, or class in their admissions decisions, stating this is because the school "stands firmly against that sort of discrimination".[9]The school does not plan on establishing traditional majors. According to President Kanelos, the undergraduate program at will start with two years of general education requirements that include classes in philosophy, history and literature and students will take courses in the same sequence. Students will become fellows in particular areas of study during their third and fourth year. [28]Jacob Howling is the Provost.
Reception
The initial announcement of the project received some positive reception,[29] including praise from Law & Liberty for ushering in "a new era in educational reform,"[30] and applause from The New Criterion for its efforts to "keep that old flame of free inquiry alive."[31]New York Times opinion columnist Ross Douthat saw the launch of a new university as a positive development, pointing out how few major universities have been established since the nineteenth century, but acknowledged how expensive doing so would be. He also saw conflicting forces in the project, including the "tension between the desire to promote great academic seriousness and the culture-war flag-waving that might be necessary to rally donor support".[32]
The project also garnered criticism. Initial responses to the project included criticism of the lack of a plan to achieve the project's goals.[3]The New York Times journalist Anemona Hartocollis questioned whether the founders would be able to "translate a provocative idea into a viable institution" while The New Republic's Alex Shephard described the plan as "largely half baked".[16][26] Jennifer Wunder, a professor at Georgia Gwinnett College who participated in the process of obtaining her institution's initial accreditation, considered the proposed timeline to establish accredited graduate and undergraduate programs to be nearly impossible to meet.[33]
On Twitter, Weiss's former colleague Nikole Hannah-Jones, along with others, drew comparisons with Trump University.[3][17][15][34][35][36] Writing in The Washington Post, political scientist and journalist Daniel W. Drezner called comparisons between UATX and Trump University "unkind and untrue".[17] John Warner at Inside Higher Ed said "I think it is unfair to call it a scam or grift, because I have high confidence that the intentions behind the project are sincere."[33]
In February 2024, in New Republic article titled, "Austin’s Anti-Woke University Is Living in Dreamland," Morgan O'Hanlon, voiced skepticism about the UATX, which would be competing with more established schools promoting an anti-woke agenda, including the University of Texas and its Civitas Institute. [37]
Related Research Articles
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The University of Texas System is a public university system in the U.S. state of Texas. It includes nine universities and five independent health institutions. The UT System is headquartered in Downtown Austin. It is the largest university system in Texas with 250,000+ enrolled students, 21,000+ employed faculty, 83,000+ health care professionals, researchers and support staff. The UT System's $42.7 billion endowment is the largest of any public university system in the United States.
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Bari Weiss is an American journalist, writer, and editor. She was an op-ed and book review editor at The Wall Street Journal (2013–2017) and an op-ed staff editor and writer on culture and politics at The New York Times (2017–2020). Since March 1, 2021, she has worked as a regular columnist for German daily newspaper Die Welt. Weiss founded the media company The Free Press and hosts the podcast Honestly.
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The Free Press is an American Internet-based media company based in Los Angeles, California, founded by Bari Weiss and Nellie Bowles. The newsletter was first published in 2021 while its associated media company officially launched in 2022.
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