"In 2021, a crew of self-described free speech martyrs announced they were founding a university to save American higher education from the scourge of cancel culture. They called it the University of Austin, or UATX - and though it lacks accreditation, they boasted that it would be a place where controversial ideas could breathe free, and students wouldn't live in fear of the woke mob."
"According to comprehensive reporting by Politico, in April of 2025 Lonsdale called an all-staff meeting that threw the entire project into a tailspin. Per the reporting, the billionaire told faculty and staff they must all subscribe to the "four principles of anti-communism, anti-socialism, identity politics, and anti-Islamism." Anyone who didn't toe the line would be frozen out."
"After that, everything changed. Staff and advisors began fleeing in droves. Students became disillusioned with the "university's" mission. The founding president, Shakespeare scholar Pano Kanelos, stepped down from his role to take a largely ceremonial position as "Chancellor," from which he would resign just a few months later. One student told Politico: "I've never felt my speech was so chilled as it was in the classroom at UATX.""
A self-styled free-speech project launched in 2021 as the University of Austin (UATX) promised a haven for controversial ideas despite lacking accreditation. Wealthy anti-woke donors funded the effort, and critics warned it risked becoming a right-leaning echo chamber. In April 2025 a major donor demanded that staff and faculty adhere to explicit anti-left principles, creating a strict political litmus test. The demand prompted mass departures of staff and advisors, sharp student disillusionment, and the founding president stepping down to a ceremonial role before resigning, undermining the institution's stated democratic processes.
Read at Futurism
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