They Wanted a University Without Cancel Culture. Then Dissenters Were Ousted.
Date postedJanuary 26, 2026
By Evan Mandery, Politico (from January 16, 2026)
The inaugural year of the University of Austin, or UATX as it’s known, had been marked by the frenzy and occasional chaos that one might expect from a start-up aimed at disrupting American higher education. The audacious experiment — the construction of a new university ostensibly based on principles of free expression and academic freedom — had drawn the interest and participation of a star-studded cast of public intellectuals, academics and tycoons.