Will the University of Austin Make Good on Its Promise?

Earlier this week, the University of Austin (UATX) — the ambitious attempt, begun in November 2021, to start a new school with the aim of stemming “illiberalism” on college campuses — announced a new set of summer courses, featuring teachers and lectures “at the very top of their field or industry,” according to Vice President of Communications Hillel Ofek.

The “Forbidden Courses” summer program is divided into two week-long sessions, each featuring four diverse courses. The first includes Dorian Abbot on science and Christianity, Rob Henderson on the psychology of morality, Katie Roiphe on “writing sexual politics,” and Walter Russell Mead on Anglo-American grand strategy; the second features Matthew Crawford and Marilyn Simon on the battle of the sexes, Mark Lilla on conservatives and reactionaries, Glenn Loury on racial inequality in America, and Luana Maroja on the ideological invasion of evolutionary biology.