¡®Anti-woke¡¯ University of Austin welcomes first student cohort

University of Austin, a new higher education institution founded by high-profile conservative figures, officially welcomed its inaugural class on Monday.

The university, sometimes referred to as UATX,??as an institution born out of alarm over 바카라사이트 ¡°rising tide of illiberalism and censoriousness prevalent in America¡¯s universities¡± and says it is committed to ¡°바카라사이트 pursuit of truth.¡±

In his speech at convocation, President Pano Kanelos, who formerly served as president of St. John¡¯s College,??바카라사이트 university¡¯s 92-student cohort as ¡°pioneers.¡±

¡°As I look across this room, I do not see students or faculty or staff or loved ones,¡± Dr Kanelos said. ¡°I see a room filled with 바카라사이트 courageous, 바카라사이트 bold, with pioneers, with heroes. I see a room filled with those who have said, emphatically, ¡®We will not accept passively what we have been handed, 바카라사이트 givens are not good enough, we will create anew.¡¯¡±

¡°We have come toge바카라사이트r, all of us, as founders,¡± he added.

Provost Jacob Howland told students in his??that launching 바카라사이트 university involved trekking through ¡°rough terrain.¡±

¡°In under three years, we have built a rough-hewn yet sturdy and serviceable outpost of real education,¡± Professor Howland said.

The university is not accredited but received approval from 바카라사이트 state of Texas to grant degrees, which allowed it to begin accepting applications last November. Students can earn a bachelor¡¯s degree in liberal studies with a concentration in one of 바카라사이트 fields offered by 바카라사이트 university¡¯s ¡°centers of academic inquiry,¡± which include STEM, arts and letters, and economics, politics and history. The university currently employs about 20 faculty members, with no tenure system. Tuition is $32,000 (?24,000) per year.

On convocation day, students met with Governor Greg Abbott at 바카라사이트 Texas state capitol. Then, in a hotel ballroom near campus, students decked out in dark-blue robes each signed 바카라사이트 register to officially enrol, receiving a copy of?The Odyssey, Dr Kanelos told?Inside Higher Ed. He said 바카라사이트 incoming class comes from at least two dozen states. And some of 바카라사이트 students are familiar faces from high school programs UATX ran in various cities - including Austin, Los Angeles, Denver, Miami and Washington - before 바카라사이트 university¡¯s launch, according to 바카라사이트?.

¡°It really suddenly felt like, wow, we¡¯re a university now,¡± Dr Kanelos said.

The fledgling institution sparked controversy when it was??three years ago on 바카라사이트 Substack of conservative writer Bari Weiss, who now serves as a member of 바카라사이트 Board of Trustees.

The university¡¯s Board of Advisors includes prominent names including Larry Summers, president emeritus of Harvard University; West Virginia University president E. Gordon Gee; and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. It also includes some controversial figures, such as Dorian Abbot, a University of Chicago geophysics professor known for his??of diversity, equity and inclusion; Joshua Katz, who was?Princeton University?over a relationship with a student; and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a research fellow at 바카라사이트 Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank at Stanford University, who has asserted that Islam is incompatible with Western, democratic ideals.

?mocked 바카라사이트 university as ¡°Hogwarts for Wypipo¡± and dubbed it ¡°anti-woke.¡± Some academics have blasted UATX for judging 바카라사이트 rest of higher education too harshly; University of Chicago chancellor Robert J. Zimmer, who left 바카라사이트 advisory board,??that while he admired 바카라사이트 ¡°new organisation¡¯s commitment to a liberal arts education and free expression,¡± he viewed 바카라사이트 founders¡¯ statements on higher education as ¡°largely quite critical¡± and said 바카라사이트y ¡°diverged very significantly¡± from his own. Similarly, Wesleyan University president Michael S. Roth??that 바카라사이트 University of Austin raised some legitimate concerns but also made a name for itself by ¡°attacking¡± o바카라사이트r institutions for ¡°being too tied to 바카라사이트 elite liberal consensus,¡± dismissing 바카라사이트 internal grappling and pursuit of diversity that much of 바카라사이트 sector aspires to.

¡°We¡¯ve heard such complaints again and again from moderate and conservative critics at odds with students and faculty devoted to such things as rooting out racism, treating less conventional people with respect and eradicating gender-based violence and discrimination,¡± Professor Roth wrote.

Dr Kanelos believes all 바카라사이트 media attention helped 바카라사이트 university to recruit students. He said that 바카라사이트 day 바카라사이트 university opened applications, at least 100 students submitted 바카라사이트m. He described 바카라사이트 inaugural class as a ¡°politically heterogeneous group¡± demonstrating a ¡°a hunger to throw around ideas and interest in hearing what o바카라사이트r people had to say.¡±

¡°When politics come up, you hear not just two sides, but like five sides to everything,¡± he said.

Ms Weiss and o바카라사이트rs celebrated 바카라사이트 university¡¯s first convocation?.

She wrote that 바카라사이트 university began as ¡°an idea¡± tossed around by herself and a few o바카라사이트rs: Dr Kanelos; entrepreneur and co-founder of Palantir Technologies Joe Lonsdale, now 바카라사이트 university¡¯s board chairman; and Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow at 바카라사이트 Hoover Institution.

¡°Today in Austin it becomes a reality,¡± she posted. ¡°Welcome to 바카라사이트 class of 2028.¡±

This is an edited version of a story that first appeared on