The University of Austin claims to encourage open inquiry and free speech among its scholars and students. However, a recent investigation by The Nation reveals that many faculty and board members have connections to Viktor Orbán's Hungarian regime, known for its state control over educational institutions. The accusations highlight a potential conflict between the university's proclaimed values and the actions of its staff, as critics raise concerns about the implications of these ties in the context of a growing authoritarian agenda.
An investigation by The Nation reveals that not only do at least seven board members of the for-profit university in Austin, Texas, have ties to Orbán-linked programs, but that at least five current and former university faculty and staff members do as well.
It's a rather awkward look, then, for the university to retain a dozen scholars and administrators with ties to Viktor Orbán's regime in Hungary, which has consolidated state control over the country's universities and media outlets in the service of an authoritarian agenda that goes by the euphemistic name "illiberal democracy."
President Donald Trump has ramped up his assault on traditional higher education this month, arresting and detaining pro-Palestinian activists without evidence of criminal wrongdoing, and issuing Columbia University a list of demands that show intent to control curriculum and thought at America's academic institutions.
The dean of the Center for Arts and Letters was a visiting fellow at Orbán-funded Hungarian private college Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), critics allege, producing propaganda in service of Orbán's far-right government is a goal.
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