FOUND! New university aims to pursue truth, not suppress speech and ideas

FORT WORTH, Texas — When a diverse group of intellectuals announced the formation of a new university in Texas — one "committed to open inquiry, freedom of conscience, and civil discourse" — the response from detractors in the media (social and traditional) was predictable.

There was almost an immediate attempt to shut down any discussion over the academic and cultural value of such an institution and disparage all of those involved.

"Will it be a proper institution of higher learning or Troll State?" opined a Washington Post writer.

The question that should have been asked instead is: Why has an institution that identifies the pursuit of truth as its highest priority become a novelty among American universities?

Pano Kanelos, the new president of the nascent University of Austin, didn't mince words in his explanation.

"Many universities no longer have an incentive to create an environment where intellectual dissent is protected and fashionable opinions are scrutinized," he wrote in the newsletter of former New York Times columnist and fellow university founder Bari Weiss, announcing the university's formation.

Consequently, he continued, our "educational system has become illiberal and is producing citizens and leaders who are incapable and unwilling to participate in the core activity of democratic governance."

He isn't wrong.

The state of American higher education has been in peril for years.

Universities, once bastions of free and diverse thought, have become places that inhibit intellectual curiosity and exploration to an alarming degree.

Kanelos cites survey data that find high levels of intolerance among university professors for colleagues who have a "wrong opinion" about a controversial subject such as immigration or gender differences. A surprising number of academics report that they have been threatened with disciplinary action for their views.

It's no surprise that this thinking has been absorbed by university students who overwhelmingly acknowledge that the campus environment stifles them from speaking their minds but also admit that they have no problem reporting professors if the professor says something students find offensive.

There are innumerable campus incidents of the latter, in which students have complained to administration about faculty and in many cases insisted upon groveling public apologies, termination or capitulation to a list of unreasonable demands.

And students are increasingly reporting their peers based on some perceived offense, sometimes threatening the accused's academic future.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has documented many such incidents through the years.

Some of the Austin university's founders have endured harassment, vicious attacks and ostracization for holding or even attempting to discuss heterodox views about subjects elite institutions suddenly deem too fraught to study.

But elite academe's loss is the new institution's (and its future students') gain.

Its board of advisers includes Lawrence H. Summers, a former Harvard president and economic adviser to Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama; Glenn Loury, an economist at Brown University; and Nadine Strossen, law professor and former president of the American Civil Liberties Union. It's an embarrassment of riches.

Kalenos said more than 1,000 professors have expressed interest in participating — a clear indication that there is no short supply of academics seeking to extricate themselves from presumably toxic environments.

But founding universities is expensive, especially when they draw the caliber of intellectual power the University of Austin has so far.

Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

If higher education has another seemingly insurmountable problem, it's cost.

Part of the university's mission will be to provide a top-notch liberal arts education at a more affordable price ($30,000 or less a year). Kanelos said it will forgo some of the superfluous bells and whistles that contribute minimally to a student's intellectual experience.

And presumably, the kind of student who is interested in an intellectually focused environment won't care too much about having a state-of-the-art rec center or fancy food court.

When you're a truth seeker in an academically free environment, who needs football?

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Cynthia M. Allen
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
(TNS)

Cynthia M. Allen is a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Previously:
• 11/03/21 Broken supply chain is a problem, but it's also a chance to learn to live with less
• 10/19/21 It's one thing to mock COVID vaccine objectors. Must we rob their livelihoods, too?
• 10/14/21 Kids are already paying the price for short-sighted COVID policies
• 10/04/21 Kids are already paying the price for short-sighted COVID policies
• 08/16/21 As school districts require masks, we have to talk about the downsides for kids, too
• 07/20/21 Dems insult voters claiming they're protecting with Washington walkout
• 06/29/21 Priest explains why Catholic bishops confront Biden, others about abortion
• 06/02/21 East Coasters in Texas experience safe, life-as-normal. Public health scolds should apologize
• 05/24/21Those outside Texas can enforce state's 'heartbeat' abortion law, a game-changer for pro-life cause
• 05/11/21 Voters unite to reject school 'cultural sensitivity' plan designed to divide
• 03/30/21 Are we gluttons for punishment? New study shows a bias for bad news about COVID-19
• 03/23/21 Who's guilty of 'Neanderthal thinking' now? Biden's immigration changes threaten kids
• 03/16/21 CDC guidelines for vaccinated are too cautious, but they hint normalcy is coming soon
• 02/22/21 A very different America?
• 12/13/20 Biden policies threaten Catholic teachings. This priest was right to call it out
• 11/16/20 If kids are not superspreaders, why do we keep treating them like they are?
• 09/27/20
• 09/15/20 News on COVID-19 is not all terrible, especially compared to warnings of 6 months ago
• 07/28/20 A Biden childcare proposal that even conservative could embrace
• 06/30/20 Black lives matter. As we address racism, we must talk about the unborn ones, too
• 06/23/20 Good news: You can be a mask skeptic and still wear one to prevent COVID-19 spread
• 06/16/20 After George Floyd, we must all challenge our assumptions about racism in America
• 06/09/20 George Floyd, good and bad police officers, and the things on which we can all agree
• 06/02/20 A post-coronavirus baby boom seems unlikely. Here's why that's a problem
• 05/26/20 How public health officials created cognitive dissonance, culture war
• 05/18/20 As states start to reopen, be a good neighbor, not a tattletale
• 04/15/20 Abortion is not health care, and amid global coronavirus crisis, it's not 'essential'