A new university in Austin, Texas, intended to serve as a model against “discrimination and indoctrination” is accepting applicants for the fall 2024 semester as of Wednesday, according to the university.
The University of Austin (UATX) announced that the state granted them the ability to award degrees, the university wrote on X, formerly Twitter. The school raised $200 million in private donations since officials announced their plans in 2021 and plans to use the funds to award full scholarships to its first 100-person class, according to the Texas Tribune. (RELATED: Ivy League Schools Create Antisemitism Task Forces To Combat ‘Unacceptable’ Behavior By Pro-Palestinian Students)
“UATX will renew the mission of the university in society,” the university website reads. “Its unique constitutional order, with its guarantees of intellectual freedom and protections against discrimination and indoctrination, will serve as a model for other institutions of higher education.”
Undergraduate applications are now open!
The state of Texas has officially certified UATX as the University of Austin, now operating and recognized as a degree-granting university. For information on our undergraduate program and how to apply, visit https://t.co/lprwXYzYCs. pic.twitter.com/6IVHERkWBZ
— University of Austin (@uaustinorg) November 8, 2023
The school’s board of advisors will include former New York Times columnist Bari Weiss and former Harvard University president Lawrence H. Summers, according to the Tribune. Founders of the university include Weiss, Kanelos, historian Niall Ferguson and entrepreneur Joe Lonsdale.
UATX’s four-year program will require two years of general education, which is called the Intellectual Foundations program and includes classes in philosophy, history and literature, according to the Tribune. Students will take the courses in the same sequence and, instead of declaring a major, will become a fellow in an area of study during their third and fourth year.
“We feel like the kinds of things that were motivating to us, that were sort of principles of ours at the beginning, are coming into alignment with what people understand to be important in higher education,” Kanelos said, according to the Tribune.
UATX did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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