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Peter MacKinnon: University of Austin exposes everything wrong with Canadian universities

While Canadian universities drown in cancel culture, identity quotas and self-censorship, the University of Austin delivers excellence

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Few Canadians have heard about the University of Austin but that may change as the university’s experiment in the post-secondary environment continues.

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This writer visited the university in the Texas capital in March and spoke with the president, his academic and staff colleagues, and a student who stepped away from exam time to share her perspective on the school. It was clear that all were attracted to UATX by a commitment to innovation in post-secondary education.

Peter MacKinnon: University of Austin exposes everything wrong with Canadian universities Back to video

Attempts to reform pre-existing institutions were once seen as possible but, by 2021, it became clear that UATX’s promoters envisaged a new university; one founded upon a culture and values that differed from those elsewhere. Its first students were enrolled in 2024.

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The early indicators of quality are impressive. Its campus consists of two spacious and welcoming floors in a downtown heritage building and modern residence accommodations within reasonable commuting distance. A highly qualified faculty of about 30 has been recruited despite the fact that the university does not offer tenure, and a coterie of adjuncts helps to support the academic program.

Accreditation is anticipated by the time the university’s first students graduate in 2028; SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) results are in the top five per cent nationally; and the student-faculty ratio is 5:1. After an intense orientation period, students work only in seminars; there are no lecture halls.

Students are required to work hard (they are expected to study for 50 hours per week), and they are ranked according to their grades. Admissions on comparative merit are highly selective and there is no tuition. The university does not receive government grants; fundraising is prodigious and UATX has raised $300 million in its early years.

In the words of President Carlos Carvalho, the purpose of the university “is to educate citizens and leaders capable of assuring the success of constitutional liberty and national prosperity.” It is described, critically by some, as resting on conservative values, but as Princeton’s Robert George argues, the alternative is not neutrality: “the question is never whether values will be imposed. The question is which values.” The UATX mission must be understood as a reaction to what its supporters see as the wider university system with its ideological activism, self-censorship, cancel culture, discrimination and the debasement of western and free market values.

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The evidence shows that these features of the wider system can be found in Canada too: many of our universities are the size of small or mid-size cities with low faculty-student contact. The Macdonald-Laurier Institute has documented a mainly left-of-centre professoriate in which cancel culture and self-censorship are present. Țhe Government of Canada requires racial and identity quotas in its granting agencies. The Aristotle Foundation has shown that there is identity group discrimination in academic appointments. Many students feel silenced and unwilling to share their opinions in what they perceive as inhospitable environments.

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Denial or indifference are among the responses to this evidence, and dissenters are shunned or ignored. Polarization is deepening.

What is to be done? The establishment of a new Canadian university comparable to UATX is possible though there would be formidable hurdles in the way: flak from many or most voices in our universities, and it would be unlikely to attract philanthropic support in amounts sufficient to pay all the costs. However, with modest tuition and public support, and with visionary supporters committing money, the project might be possible and should be welcomed.

Otherwise, we must hope that some courageous institutional leaders will turn their backs on the identity focus, cancel culture and discrimination that are common today. Unfortunately, the federal government is conscripted on these through its granting agencies and will not intervene without concerted pressure from the provinces. Perhaps some provincial governments will insist upon a return to moderation, non-discrimination and freedom of expression in our universities.

Whether or not replicated in Canada, The UATX model should be studied here. Its features are impressive and its early success is incontestable. It should inspire a rethinking of our undergraduate education for which reform is sorely needed.

Peter MacKinnon served as president of three universities. He is a senior fellow of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and the Aristotle foundation.

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