University of Austin

Last updated

University of Austin
University of Austin.png
MottoDare to Think
Type Private liberal arts college
EstablishedNovember 8, 2021;3 years ago (2021-11-08)
Founders Joe Lonsdale
Pano Kanelos
Niall Ferguson
Bari Weiss
Accreditation Unaccredited
Endowment $200 million (2023) [1]
President Pano Kanelos
Provost Jacob Howland
Academic staff
28 [2]
Students92 [3]
Location
Austin
,
Texas
,
78701
,
U.S.

30°17′06″N97°44′43″W / 30.2850°N 97.7453°W / 30.2850; -97.7453
Campus Urban
Colors    Navy and gold
Website uaustin.org
The Scarbrough Building in downtown Austin, home of the University of Austin UATX Campus at Scarbrough.jpg
The Scarbrough Building in downtown Austin, home of the University of Austin

The University of Austin (UATX) is a private liberal arts university located in Austin, Texas. [4] The university has established a campus in downtown Austin's Scarbrough Building, and enrolled its first undergraduate cohort in the fall of 2024. [5] [6]

Contents

UATX is not accredited, [7] and its students are not eligible for Federal Student Aid. It is approved to grant bachelor’s degrees by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. [8] The first two classes have been offered full-tuition scholarships. [9] [10]

History

The University of Austin was conceived in May 2021 when venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale, St. John's College president Pano Kanelos, scholar Niall Ferguson, and journalist Bari Weiss met in Austin, Texas. [11] The proposal was publicized six months later in an article by Kanelos in Weiss's Substack newsletter Common Sense (now The Free Press ). [12] [13]

Founding faculty fellows included Peter Boghossian, Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Hoover Institution), and Kathleen Stock. [14] Other advisors included former Harvard President Lawrence Summers, former ACLU President Nadine Strossen, and former president of the American Enterprise Institute Arthur Brooks. [13]

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 advisors to the university. [15] Writing in The Week , Samuel Goldman noted that no prominent members of the board of advisors had resigned their academic appointments to join the UATX faculty, suggesting that their "lack of personal commitment casts doubt on the value of their support." [16] Kathleen Stock clarified that her role was not full-time, and that she would not move to Austin. [14] Pinker said that although he was part of the advisory board, he had no plans to teach there. [17] 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." [18]

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". [19] Shortly thereafter, Pinker followed suit. [20] UATX apologized for creating "unnecessary complications" for Pinker and Zimmer by not clarifying [sooner] what their advisory roles entailed. [21]

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. [22] Philanthropist Harlan Crow, a donor to the university, [23] provided classroom space in Dallas for UATX. On July 6, 2022, the school announced that Richard Dawkins had joined its advisory board. [24] 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." [25]

After receiving certification from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to award degrees in October 2023, UATX 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 received full four-year scholarships, paid from private donations. By November 2023, UATX had reportedly raised $200 million from 2,600 donors and received over 6,000 inquiries from potential faculty. [1] In Bloomberg, UATX reported a surge in interest from donors "horrified by the response at top-tier universities" to the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. [26]

In March 2024, UATX reported that they had formed a student debate society, the Austin Union, modeled after the Oxford Union. [27] In June, the University of Austin announced a $5 million bitcoin endowment in partnership with cryptocurrency platform Unchained Capital. [28] In November 2024, UATX was featured in a CBS News 60 Minutes segment titled “Disruptor U.” [29]

Academics

UATX requires standardized test scores in its application. [30] It does not consider race, gender, or social class in its admissions process, "stand[ing] firmly against that sort of discrimination." [13]

UATX’s undergraduate program begins with a core curriculum consisting of 15 courses based on a Great Books canon. [31] In their junior and senior years, students specialize in interdisciplinary academic centers. [32] A practical capstone project is undertaken across all four years. [33]

Accreditation

UATX is certified by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to award a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies degree. [8]

UATX is currently engaged in the process for determining eligibility to apply for candidate for accreditation status with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). [7] MSCHE is an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Secretary of Education to conduct accreditation and pre-accreditation (candidacy status) activities for institutions of higher education, and direct assessment programs offered at those institutions. The graduation of a first class of undergraduates is normally a prerequisite for accreditation, meaning UATX can expect the first accreditation cycle to have been completed after the graduation of the inaugural class in 2028. [34]

Reception

The initial announcement of the project received some positive reception, [35] including praise from Law & Liberty for ushering in "a new era in educational reform," [36] and applause from The New Criterion for its efforts to "keep that old flame of free inquiry alive." [37] 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". [38]

The project also garnered criticism. Initial responses to the project included criticism of the lack of a plan to achieve the project's goals. [7] The New York Times journalist Anemona Hartocollis questioned in 2021 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". [17] [39] Jennifer Wunder, a professor at Georgia Gwinnett College who participated in the process of obtaining her institution's initial accreditation, considered the 2021 business plan timeline to establish accredited graduate and undergraduate programs to be nearly impossible to meet. [40] The proposal for a University of Austin was described in 2021 by Gabriella Swerling in The Daily Telegraph [41] as "anti-cancel culture" and by Alex Shephard in The New Republic as "anti-woke". [39]

After initially holding silent about the reasons for his resignation, Steven Pinker told The Harvard Crimson that UATX had (as the journalists put it) "confused freedom of speech with the political right"—that it had staffed itself primarily with people on the right, regardless of their position on free speech, extending to some opponents of it. [20] However, upon the announcement of the certification of UATX’s undergraduate program, Pinker acknowledged UATX’s "maturity" in light of his previous "misgivings," lauding its newly-earned certification and the "contrast & challenge to the legacy universities" it offers. [42]

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References

  1. 1 2 McGee, Kate (November 8, 2023). "With $200 million and state approval, University of Austin is ready to start accepting applicants". The Texas Tribune. Archived from the original on November 8, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Our People - Faculty". University of Austin. December 2, 2024. Retrieved December 2, 2024.
  3. ↑ Sara Weissman (September 4, 2024). "University of Austin Enters Its First Academic Year". Inside Higher Ed . Retrieved December 2, 2024.
  4. ↑ McGee, Kate (November 9, 2021). "The new University of Austin hopes to counter what its founders say is a culture of censorship at most colleges". The Texas Tribune . Archived from the original on November 9, 2021.
  5. ↑ Weissman, Sara. "University of Austin Enters Its First Academic Year". Inside Higher Ed.
  6. ↑ Kelly, Maggie (September 2, 2024). "The Austin Revolution Has Begun". University of Austin. Retrieved December 2, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. 1 2 3 "UATX FAQs - Accreditation". University of Austin. Retrieved December 2, 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. 1 2 "Quarterly Board Agenda". Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. October 2023. p. 120. Archived from the original on May 14, 2024. Retrieved May 14, 2024.
  9. ↑ "College Navigator". National Center for Education Statistics. Archived from the original on October 3, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2024.
  10. ↑ "Founders Scholarship". University of Austin. December 2, 2024. Retrieved December 2, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ↑ "UATX | Vision & Timeline". uatx.webflow.io. Archived from the original on June 20, 2024. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
  12. ↑ McHale, Patrick (November 8, 2021). "Higher-Education Critics Launch University of Austin". Bloomberg News . Archived from the original on November 8, 2021.
  13. 1 2 3 Menchaca, Megan (November 8, 2021). "Coming soon: The University of Austin, focused on 'the intrepid pursuit of truth'". Austin American-Statesman . Archived from the original on November 9, 2021.
  14. 1 2 Kelleher, Patrick (November 8, 2021). "Kathleen Stock helps launch new so-called university with 'forbidden courses' but no actual degrees". Pink News . Archived from the original on November 9, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  15. ↑ Wong, Julia Carrie (November 17, 2021). "The new anti-woke academics say the universities are 'broken'. But they aren't giving up their tenured day jobs". The Guardian.
  16. ↑ Goldman, Samuel (November 9, 2021). "The University of Austin has a good hook. Now for the hard part". The Week . Archived from the original on November 9, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  17. 1 2 Hartocollis, Anemona (November 9, 2021). "They Say Colleges Are Censorious. So They Are Starting a New One". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 11, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  18. ↑ Drezner, Daniel W. (November 10, 2021). "Perspective | What is the University of Austin's purpose?". The Washington Post . ISSN   0190-8286. Archived from the original on November 10, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  19. ↑ "Statement from Chancellor Robert J. Zimmer on his role for the University of Austin". University of Chicago (Press release). November 15, 2021. Archived from the original on November 15, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  20. 1 2 Cadenhead, Rebecca EJ; Herszenhorn, Miles J (October 27, 2022). "Steven Pinker and the Fight Over Academia's Future". The Harvard Crimson . Retrieved November 13, 2024.
  21. ↑ "UATX Statement about Robert Zimmer and Steven Pinker". University of Austin (Press release). November 15, 2021. Archived from the original on March 30, 2023. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  22. ↑ Partain, Claire (June 9, 2022). "Fledgling University of Austin to start 'Forbidden Courses' this month". Austonia. Archived from the original on June 10, 2022.
  23. ↑ Rawlings, Noah (February 19, 2024). "An American Education: Notes from UATX". The New Inquiry . Archived from the original on April 25, 2024. Retrieved May 4, 2024.
  24. ↑ "Renowned evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins joins UATX". University of Austin (Press release). July 6, 2022. Archived from the original on July 6, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
  25. ↑ Heying, Heather (December 6, 2022). "On resigning from the Board of the University of Austin". Natural Selections. Heather Heying. Archived from the original on June 11, 2024. Retrieved June 11, 2024.[ self-published source ]
  26. ↑ Maglione, Francesca (November 17, 2023). "Ivy League Backlash Draws Money, Students to Upstart University in Texas". Bloomberg . Archived from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
  27. ↑ "University of Austin (UATX), Launches Debate Society, the Austin Union". University of Austin (Press release). March 4, 2024. Archived from the original on June 30, 2024. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  28. ↑ "Unchained and University of Austin Introduce Pioneering Bitcoin Endowment". unchained.com. May 31, 2024. Retrieved December 2, 2024.
  29. ↑ "UATX says it fights college censorship culture with a focus on free speech". cbsnews.com. CBS News. Retrieved December 1, 2024.
  30. ↑ "UATX Admissions FAQs - Standardized Test Scores". University of Austin. December 2, 2024. Retrieved December 2, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  31. ↑ "Intellectual Foundations". University of Austin. December 2, 2024. Retrieved December 2, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  32. ↑ "Undergraduate Curriculum". University of Austin. December 2, 2024. Retrieved December 2, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  33. ↑ "Polaris Project". University of Austin. December 2, 2024. Retrieved December 2, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  34. ↑ "Standards for Accreditation and Requirements of Affiliation | Thirteenth Edition". Middle States Commission on Higher Education. December 2, 2024. Retrieved December 2, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  35. ↑ Vedder, Richard K. (May 19, 2023). "A Collegiate Renaissance?". James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal . Retrieved January 27, 2024.
  36. ↑ Mendenhall, Allen (November 12, 2021). "Time for a New University?". Law&Liberty. Archived from the original on November 8, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  37. ↑ "The new order: On the University of Austin". The New Criterion . Vol. 42, no. 3. December 2021. p. 2. Archived from the original on November 18, 2021.
  38. ↑ Douthat, Ross (November 10, 2021). "Opinion | Why We Need New Colleges". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 11, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  39. 1 2 Shephard, Alex (November 8, 2021). "Do We Really Need an Anti-Woke University?". The New Republic . Archived from the original on November 9, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
  40. ↑ Warner, John (November 9, 2021). "What the University of Austin Gets Right | Inside Higher Ed". Inside Higher Ed . Archived from the original on November 11, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  41. ↑ Swerling, Gabriella (November 8, 2021). "Kathleen Stock takes job at anti-cancel culture university that welcomes 'thought criminals'". The Daily Telegraph . ISSN   0307-1235. Archived from the original on November 8, 2021.
  42. ↑ Pinker, Steven (November 8, 2023). "Though I had misgivings about UATX @uastinorg when it was announced 2 years ago, it has matured & is now certified. I wish it success in offering a contrast & challenge to the legacy universities (whose sicknesses are increasingly apparent)". X.com. Retrieved December 2, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

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