On 8 November 2021, the founders of the University of Austin (UATX) announced the launch of their new project—a school where students would receive “an education rooted in the pursuit of truth.” Unlike Ivy League universities, where “illiberalism has become a pervasive feature of campus life,” the school’s founding president declared, this would be a place “where intellectual dissent is protected and fashionable opinions are scrutinized.” On a web page titled, Our Principles, UATX pledges that it will “renew the mission of the university, and serve as a model for institutions of higher education by safeguarding academic freedom and promoting intellectual pluralism.”

The creation of UATX was heralded as a bold initiative in some circles, but also attracted a number of skeptics. Some wondered if this ostensible homage to the values of classical liberalism wasn’t just a glorified right-wing think tank. Under the headline, Does America Actually Need a New Conservative University?, for instance, Wesleyan University president Michael S. Roth warned Politico readers that UATX was missing the mark by targeting other universities. “I realize that the University of Austin is trying to raise money from donors whose wallets will open more quickly when they hear complaints about woke warriors or pronoun police,” he wrote. “But you shouldn’t misleadingly disparage higher education in general in order to make a place for yourself—especially when declaring one’s devotion to truth.”