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https://web.archive.org/web/20240219233718/https://thenewinquiry.com/an-american-education-notes-from-uatx/>
"A revolution in education! A resuscitation of the university mission! To
happen in, of all places, not the pompous old northeast or the debauched West
Coast, not New York or California but the country’s southern reaches—in the
Texas Hill Country, in the city of Austin, where already technologists and
venture capitalists had swarmed, drawn by the absence of income tax and the
looseness of labor regulations, pulled by the mild zoning laws and the natural
beauty and the food trucks and the good vibes. Austin, because it was “a hub
for builders, mavericks, and creators.” Here a new university: the University
of Austin, or UATX.
Around this idea journalists, historians, technologists, and financiers had
assembled. People like Bari Weiss, Joe Lonsdale, Joshua Katz, Peter Boghossian,
and more. They saw a void in American higher ed. There was not, they asserted,
enough free speech. Where, they wondered, was the pursuit of truth? Nowadays,
those things were hard to find, but they would be abundant at UATX, an
institution to be built from the bottom up, through sheer will and courage—and
some backing from billionaires. The Yales, the Stanfords, the UChicagos had
been overrun by hordes of “diversocrats” and woke elites. At UATX there would
be none.
Many of the founders had participated in the same conservative think tanks: The
Hoover Institution, The Manhattan Institute, The American Enterprise Institute.
Many had contributed to
The Free Press, the digital paper founded by Bari
Weiss in 2021, the same year UATX was announced. Many were friends or fans of
Jordan Peterson. One UATX founder was even double-dipping, delivering lectures
at both UATX and Peterson’s forthcoming Peterson Academy. One had been fired
from Princeton University after sleeping with a student and “discouraging her
from seeking mental health care,” per an official university statement. One had
been accused of assaulting his girlfriend. (The charges were dropped.) Another
had had a talk at MIT canceled after comparing Affirmative Action to “the
atrocities of the 20th century.” And so, beneath their optimism, there churned
bitterness and indignation at their mistreatment by the Thought Police—sour
feelings they sweetened with their commitment to “free and open inquiry.”"
Via Christoph S.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
