A group of intellectuals who have faced hostility for expressing their ideas are building their own institution of higher education in Austin, Texas, saying they can no longer wait for legacy universities to address pervasive intolerance on campuses.
The goal of this educational initiative is to build a university “dedicated to the fearless pursuit of truth,” a promise Kanelos said appears in mottos of many prestigious institutions but is hardly honored in practice.
“There is a gaping chasm between the promise and the reality of higher education,” Kanelos wrote, pointing to recent incidents in which faculty were “treated like thought criminals” because of their viewpoints.
Many universities no longer have an incentive to create an environment where “intellectual dissent is protected and fashionable opinions are scrutinized,” according to Kanelos. Instead, for many of the most prestigious schools, the primary incentive is to “function as finishing school for the national and global elite.”
UATX won’t accept undergraduates until 2024, but it plans to launch at least three graduate programs and will roll out summer programs as early as 2022.
The opening of an undergraduate college is planned for fall 2024. The first two years of the four-year program will consist of “an intensive liberal arts curriculum, including the study of philosophy, literature, history, politics, economics, mathematics, the sciences, and the fine arts.” There has yet to be any news about tuition or scholarships.
In a call to action, Kanelos encouraged those who share the feeling that “something fundamental is broken” in higher education to join the effort.
“We welcome all who share our mission to pursue a truly liberating education—and hope that other founders follow our example,” he said.