Bertie S. Teacup: UATX - Liberalism Resurgent

High time!

Universities devoted to the unfettered pursuit of truth are the cornerstone of a free and ﬂourishing democratic society.

For universities to serve their purpose, they must be fully committed to freedom of inquiry, freedom of conscience, and civil discourse.

In order to maintain these principles, UATX will be ﬁercely independent—ﬁnancially, intellectually, and politically.

[Needless to say, apparently fearing competition from liberal education, the "woke's" knickers are in a twist.]

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Our project began with a small gathering of those concerned about the state of higher education—Niall Ferguson, Bari Weiss, Heather Heying, Joe Lonsdale, Arthur Brooks, and I—and we have since been joined by many others, including the brave professors mentioned above, Kathleen Stock, Dorian Abbot and Peter Boghossian.

We count among our numbers university presidents: Robert Zimmer, Larry Summers, John Nunes, and Gordon Gee, and leading academics, such as Steven Pinker, Deirdre McCloskey, Leon Kass, Jonathan Haidt, Glenn Loury, Joshua Katz, Vickie Sullivan, Geoffrey Stone, Bill McClay, and Tyler Cowen.

"On our quads, faculty are being treated like thought criminals."

.......

"The numbers tell the story as well as any anecdote you’ve read in the headlines or heard within your own circles. Nearly a quarter of American academics in the social sciences or humanities endorse ousting a colleague for having a wrong opinion about hot-button issues such as immigration or gender differences. Over a third of conservative academics and PhD students say they had been threatened with disciplinary action for their views. Four out of five American PhD students are willing to discriminate against right-leaning scholars, according to a report by the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology.

The picture among undergraduates is even bleaker. In Heterodox Academy’s 2020 Campus Expression Survey, 62% of sampled college students agreed that the climate on their campus prevented students from saying things they believe. Nearly 70% of students favor reporting professors if the professor says something students find offensive, according to a Challey Institute for Global Innovation survey. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education reports at least 491 disinvitation campaigns since 2000. Roughly half were successful."

https://twitter.com/uaustinorg .

University of Austin (UATX) is a proposed American private liberal arts college announced in 2021 to be located in Austin, Texas. It has been described as anti-cancel culture and anti-woke. According its website, the proposed college plans to accept graduate students in 2022 and undergraduate students in 2024. They have not received nonprofit status and are reliant on a fiscal sponsor. As of 2021 the institution is not accredited but reports that it is seeking accreditation.

The University of Austin was launched on November 8, 2021 with the publication of an article by founding president Pano Kanelos, formerly the president of St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe), in journalist Bari Weiss's Substack. Substack (founded 2017) is an American online platform that provides publishing, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure to support subscription newsletters. It allows writers to send digital newsletters directly to subscribers.

University of Austin's founding faculty fellows include Peter Boghossian, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and Kathleen Stock, although Stock clarified it is not a full-time role and that she will not move to Austin. Other founders include former Harvard President Lawrence Summers, former ACLU President Nadine Strossen, and former president of the American Enterprise Institute Arthur Brooks.

Kanelos has said the institution will be focused on "the intrepid pursuit of truth" and exposing students to "the deepest wisdom of civilization." The institution reportedly raised $10 million in private donations in the two months prior to launching. Within days of the launch on November 8, 2021, Kanelos said he had received more than 1,000 requests from people to participate in the institution, indicating such a need for this type of school. The institution aims to raise $250 million to launch the undergraduate and graduate program during the initial few years.

Perfect comment in response to a puerile shoot-the-messenger ad hominem: "Thank you for your considerate and valuable contribution to the discussion. We are all now more enriched in wisdom and humanity after having read your cynical ad hominem attack on people who are trying to improve the nature of our public discourse rather than succumbing to nihilistic pessimism. May your inspired words be among those chiseled in stone so that they are preserved for generations to come."

∞ Dicktionary ..
∞ Education ..
∞ Sociopolitical Dysfunction ..

Arts and Humanities ..

Coddling of American Fragility ..

Common Sense - Honestly (Bari Weiss) ..

Disintegrating Realities - Kathleen Stock ..

Dystopian Anti-Social Media ..

Educational fIQ Outcomes in Cognitively Flexible vs Rigid →

Essence of Liberal Education ..

Excessively Expensive ..

fiQ - Creativeness, Inventiveness in Cognitive Flexibility vs Rigidity →

Ideas, Events, People, (Self) ..

Neoliberal Degradation of Education ..