Manifesto for a new university in Austin

[dismalist]

A new university is being founded which will not have cancel culture and lots of other stuff, but will have useful professional training and other stuff. It will be free thinking.

The manifesto, written by its President,  https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/we-cant-wait-for-universities-to, is a tad long, but many subjects are covered.

Healthy competition will do the trick.

[marshwiggle]

Rather cheeky starting offering:

BEGINNING SUMMER 2022
THE FORBIDDEN COURSES
Our Forbidden Courses summer program invites top students from other universities to join us for a spirited discussion about the most provocative questions that often lead to censorship or self-censorship in many universities. Students will become proficient and comfortable with productive disagreement.

Definitely taking the bull by the horns. It will be interesting to see if they're able to make it work.

[jimbogumbo]

How is this different than Patrick Henry?

[ciao_yall]

Why does this remind me of the Minerva Project?

[downer]

How curious. Seems like a strange time to be starting a new university. Won't they need to get accreditation from some organization? Higher ed institutions are not known for acting swiftly.

[Wahoo Redux]

This is a rightwing revenge fantasy: "Now we conservatives can have a university where WE can kick YOU out!! So there!"

[marshwiggle]

This is a rightwing revenge fantasy: "Now we conservatives can have a university where WE can kick YOU out!! So there!"

Where did they talk about kicking anyone out? Their whole point was about encouraging diversity of viewpoint. If they kicked out people with the "wrong" opinions, they'd violate their own stated objectives.

[Wahoo Redux]

This is a rightwing revenge fantasy: "Now we conservatives can have a university where WE can kick YOU out!! So there!"

Where did they talk about kicking anyone out? Their whole point was about encouraging diversity of viewpoint. If they kicked out people with the "wrong" opinions, they'd violate their own stated objectives.

You are a truehearted and guileless fella, Marshy.

[mahagonny]

I could name some professors who should be kicked out. Academic freedom should not, for example, protect someone who disseminates a video of herself stating antisocial things like 'we need to take these MF'ers out [white people].' And this isn't just Flobunk College in a remote town. It's a big name university. Rutgers, I believe. When Weiss, or whomever it is, states 'it's time for a university with some standards' it's not too far-fetched of a claim.

You are a truehearted and guileless fella, Marshy.

I'm finding you a bit of an enigmatic one lately.

[marshwiggle]

This is a rightwing revenge fantasy: "Now we conservatives can have a university where WE can kick YOU out!! So there!"

Where did they talk about kicking anyone out? Their whole point was about encouraging diversity of viewpoint. If they kicked out people with the "wrong" opinions, they'd violate their own stated objectives.

You are a truehearted and guileless fella, Marshy.

Most people are, by definition, near the middle of the political spectrum. The noisiest people are at the extremes. The people near the middle want to be able to hear (and rationally discuss) issues without being shut down by ideologues from either end.

For people on the far right, there are probably enough religious institutions that are dogmatic enough to serve the purpose of "kicking out" any left wing viewpoints, so there's no need for something new if that's the goal.

[RatGuy]

From The Statesman

The University of Austin, a new private liberal arts school, is planning to open soon in state's capital in response to what some perceive as a culture of censorship on college campuses. But it still needs accreditation, a physical location and an undergraduate program.

The founders of the school include former Harvard president Lawrence Summers, former ACLU president Nadine Strossen, Arthur Brooks, former president of the American Enterprise Institute, as well as journalists, academics and former university presidents. The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

They're aiming for a Fall 2024 opening. Kanelos holds a Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought at University of Chicago, a M.A. in Political Philosophy and Literature from the University Professors Program at Boston University, and a B.A. in English from Northwestern University. I was surprised by some of this, just based on the initial headline.

[mahagonny]

This is a rightwing revenge fantasy: "Now we conservatives can have a university where WE can kick YOU out!! So there!"

Where did they talk about kicking anyone out? Their whole point was about encouraging diversity of viewpoint. If they kicked out people with the "wrong" opinions, they'd violate their own stated objectives.

You are a truehearted and guileless fella, Marshy.

Most people are, by definition, near the middle of the political spectrum. The noisiest people are at the extremes. The people near the middle want to be able to hear (and rationally discuss) issues without being shut down by ideologues from either end.

For people on the far right, there are probably enough religious institutions that are dogmatic enough to serve the purpose of "kicking out" any left wing viewpoints, so there's no need for something new if that's the goal.

Much of the left media who now understand that their readership does not want to read a range of ideas but for the most part reads 'news' to have their hostility validated, thinks that merely putting the word 'conservative' in front of a person's name discredits them. People who hold views that were called moderate a short time ago are now called conservative. These news outlets have no choice but to do this as the democratic party base moves further left.

[apl68]

They seem to be bankrolled by some libertarian think-tank, which presumably gets its dark money from some eccentric billionaire.  I have visions of Ayn Rand's works being used as core curriculum.  Not at all what I grew up thinking of as "conservative," although that seems to be who's calling the shots in today's "conservative" movement.  Or was until Donald Trump came in from nowhere and upset everybody's apple cart.

This may be for the best, since any money its mysterious backers put into this university venture is not money that can be spent buying influence in Congress and state legislatures. 

[downer]

The political stances of the academics are certainly not uniformly conservative -- many are old fashioned liberals, and some may well be quite leftist. "Right wing" is hardly a useful label these days, since it can indicate socially conservative, libertarian, or just plain crazy.

[mahagonny]

You don't have to be Ayn Rand to notice that none of the discussions about inequality coming from the left give any consideration to how different racial or demographic groups have different habits.
ETA: Asian students study harder than white ones and also outperform them scholastically. Surprised?