The University of Austin was first announced in these pages by its president in November 2021. “We are done waiting. We are done waiting for the legacy universities to right themselves. And so we are building anew,” wrote Pano Kanelos explaining why he, along with a small group that I am a part of, were starting a new university in a country full of them.
It took three years to turn an idea into reality. Boris Fishman is among the professors teaching the inaugural class. He is also the author of today’s essay. —BW
These are days of vengeance and woe. I pass them in the enemy’s lair. I’m a liberal who teaches at a “conservative” university.
“Conservative” is in quotes because the university where I teach is officially free of political persuasion. Its primary dedication is to “the pursuit of truth,” which requires freedom of speech as distinct from the de facto censorship of conservative speech on many campuses in this country. Here, the founding mission declares that any idea is welcome, and will rise and fall on its merits. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the university has drawn mainly conservative and libertarian interest and funding.
So how did I—a lifelong liberal repelled by MAGA conservatism—end up here?