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New (?) University in Austin

52-80

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 105617

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Beyond the fact that this is almost certainly not real and will likely involve some poor fool holding the bag, whether it’s Trump U or the Foxconn plant in Wisconsin:
This proposal clearly doesn’t understand that all of this already goes on in basic secondary education, and especially in most liberal arts schools.
I had to read Hayek, Vin Mises, and Friedman in Political Economy at Bates.  They are pretty much required reading at any liberal arts school if you want to get a Political Science degree.  I had a Marxist professor who taught a two semester class on Marxism and the entire second semester was criticism of Marxist theory and teachings.
 
My fucking secondary concentration was classical liberal theory (tl;dr- Hobbes is right, if not authoritarian, Locke believes in equal rights, if you are a property owning white guy, Rousseau was a genius on class equity and empathy, and a horrific misogynist). There is no shortage of conservative thought you are required to read in most humanities education.  Goddamn Gordon Wood, yes that Gordon Wood, entire schtick is The Founder were super freedom men, and America is truly unique in its democratic experience
 
But it also wasn’t until  I got to college after receiving a HS degree from one of the best public schools in the country that I actually read the articles of succession and really understood that the civil war was entirely, totally, and absolutely about slavery. From the mouths of founders of the confederacy.
If real, This UTAX idea is not to foster debate and free thought: it’s to literally create a safe space for right wing indoctrination. 

Fantastic post. Among my student peers, I was on the conservative side. There was plenty of dumb hippie shit…and there was also plenty of discussion of various conservative thinkers and ideas. I didn’t feel oppressed, even though there were plenty of people who called for bans on this that or the other.

Because…and go with me here….I wasn’t a narcissist snowflake pussy like many of the “thought leaders” the aspiring U of A is waving about.
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Mole

Mole 4336

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Posted
4 hours ago, wildcat09 said:

All it is for the most part is going over the assigned reading that at most barely introduces students (those who actually bothered to do the reading) to some of the most basic elements of a bunch of different schools of thought.

I could have used a trigger warning before reading this. Please be mindful of your beleaguered college professors before discussing the realities of student engagement in classes. Especially as we reach that time of year where students realize they haven’t turned in a single assignment.

There are problems in higher education, and a certain bizarre madness at some institutions/departments, but the real problems aren’t the stuff that make for good culture war headlines.

Focusing on the culture wars suggests that this new institution likely won’t address the real problems. Higher Ed indoctrination isn’t a real thing — we aren’t trying to do this and we couldn’t indoctrinate even if we tried. I’m supposed to get them to understand the content of my classes and turn them into communists? I’ll need a course release for that.

But I hope they’re wildly successful, if only to create more academic jobs in a tough market. And maybe this new school would be open to my idea of starting a BS in Solipism. I could use that sweet department chair money.

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Bateshorn

Bateshorn 9964

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, F250 said:

Computer Science major in the 90's. Most of my peers were male, libertarian and sexist. It's how Tech Bros are made.

 

Gotdamn this is a good point.  You don’t run into a lot of lax bros in History 360-Ripples on the Water: How the failure of the Reconstruction shapes modern racial politics. 

Edited by Bateshorn
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RDCanecutter

RDCanecutter 26560

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1 hour ago, F250 said:

Computer Science major in the 90's. Most of my peers were male, libertarian and sexist. It's how Tech Bros are made.

In the 90s as a grad student teaching a class at UT, I had a student mention he was anarcho-socialist or some such, and I yelled at him that I didn't allow Commies in my French class.

He got over it, because later he asked if I wanted to be lead singer in his Marxist Country band. I was up for it, because a girl's a girl, dialectic or no, and dudes don't play in bands to experience music theory. The problem was, this student was a drummer who didn't own drums, and his fellow Commie roommate who DID own drums wouldn't let him use his. Each according to his need my ass.

This trip down memory lane reminds me that UT employed an army of grad students to teach first year classes, and we ranged from untrained children to pretentious alcoholics, but not much in the way of competent teachers in between. The people I kept up with who still teach do it mostly at less-prestigious schools than UT, now that they actually know how to teach. Hmm.

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 90078

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5 hours ago, DonkeyCigars said:

Isn't a University supposed to be where a push-back on the status quo and a pressure test to the establishment is encouraged?

That is probably in some literature buried in a file cabinet in a high school counselor's office.

The reality for many is that it's a place to be free of your parents, drink a little, have sex, make connections, and get a lot of shit out of your system before you get into the real world/workplace.

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JimmyJames

JimmyJames 12271

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Posted
5 hours ago, Bateshorn said:

Well, except when you go to college during the height of 3rd  wave feminism.  I used to come home when Baylor was in Austin just to get ass. Baptist girls fuck when they get out of Waco.

You should have seen the good Christian girls in the early 90s in Matamoros (back when it was reasonably safe at night) or Cancun. My game was pretty mediocre in college and it would take all of 5 minutes to pick one up.

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JimmyJames

JimmyJames 12271

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, F250 said:

Computer Science major in the 90's. Most of my peers were male, libertarian and sexist. It's how Tech Bros are made.

 

I once knew a girl at UT in the 90s who was pretty hot and an engineering major. I bet almost every dude in her classes failed because the entire class was focused on her.

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Js1

Js1 85784

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Posted
10 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

That is probably in some literature buried in a file cabinet in a high school counselor's office.

The reality for many is that it's a place to be free of your parents, drink a little, have sex, make connections, and get a lot of shit out of your system before you get into the real world/workplace.

Drink….a little? 

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 90078

Posted
Posted
20 hours ago, Bateshorn said:

So, some of the “UT Grads” talking this thing on this page obviously don’t know shit about how college works these days.  And that’s how I know this is a grift.

You don’t need to start a school.  You can more or less buy a small broke school and make it a “conservative, liberal, freedom” bastion.  The Koch brothers basically bought the Law School at George Mason.  

Southwestern has an endowment of $289 million.  If you really have a billion or so in commitments, you could almost certainly bend the college to your vision, and it’s already accredited and known.  With an $1.3 billion and 1500 ish students, you’d have resources in par with Trinity University, which fucking showers money on its students.  And that’s the expensive option.  There’s gotta be some little religious colleges in Texas barely keeping their head above water these days.

That’s why this is an obvious grift, the money isn’t really there.

1234.

Even if they only had a few hundred million, like I said, they could show up in College Station and be heard out and be offered something somewhere.  Aggy has some smaller schools they might let them reshape, or at the very least, might let them startup another one.  

And yes, there are a ton of little colleges in Texas that would welcome them with open arms....except for the religious part.  Looking at the backgrounds of some of those involved at the upper levels/on the funding side, they are not religious, and/or would definitely not be welcome at quite a few of the small religious schools you speak of. Tech bros tend to tune that stuff out/reject it.

But if they had hundreds of million, and access up to a billion, they can outright buy an existing school and have students enrolled in the spring, and they wouldn't have to go through the slog of accreditation, etc.

 

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 46492

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Posted
4 hours ago, RDCanecutter said:

This trip down memory lane reminds me that UT employed an army of grad students to teach first year classes, and we ranged from untrained children to pretentious alcoholics, but not much in the way of competent teachers in between. 

My first class as a grad student TA had me (at the professor's demand) calling roll.  Understand, I am white . . . like, bleached white.  I grew up in the Ozarks.  I worked my way down the list of probably 80 students in this recitation who didn't want to be there any more than I did, and my eyes scanned ahead and saw a kid named "Jesus".

Oh, fuck.  I KNEW it couldn't possibly be pronounced like the Christ child.  No way.  That said, I had 2 years of high school Latin and zero Spanish.  I was starting to sweat.  We were getting closer.  Somehow, divine providence took hold and it occurred to me that his first name was surely "Hey-Zeus", and I called it, and he answered "here".

Bullet dodged.  I got out of teaching just as soon as I could.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31695

Posted
Posted (edited)
17 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

My first class as a grad student TA had me (at the professor's demand) calling roll.  Understand, I am white . . . like, bleached white.  I grew up in the Ozarks.  I worked my way down the list of probably 80 students in this recitation who didn't want to be there any more than I did, and my eyes scanned ahead and saw a kid named "Jesus".

Oh, fuck.  I KNEW it couldn't possibly be pronounced like the Christ child.  No way.  That said, I had 2 years of high school Latin and zero Spanish.  I was starting to sweat.  We were getting closer.  Somehow, divine providence took hold and it occurred to me that his first name was surely "Hey-Zeus", and I called it, and he answered "here".

Bullet dodged.  I got out of teaching just as soon as I could.

About 1988?  Pretty sure he normally went by Chuy, as do many Jesuses.  But I'm fairly sure I knew the Jesus in question.

And this was Beaman, I imagine?  I never had him as a prof, but he was kind of an ass generally, and I have dealt with him as an expert witness on a couple of occasions and that impression is confirmed.

Edited by TwiceHorn
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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 46492

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7 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

About 1988?  Pretty sure he normally went by Chuy, as do many Jesuses.  But I'm fairly sure I knew the Jesus in question.

And this was Beaman, I imagine?  I never had him as a prof, but he was kind of an ass generally, and I have dealt with him as an expert witness on a couple of occasions and that impression is confirmed.

No, 1985.  Bob Freeman was the prof, early in his tenure.

Joe Beaman is the smartest man I've ever met.  I mean, his intellect is off the charts, and he was quite helpful to me over the years.  He doesn't suffer fools gladly, though.  I don't think I could name a prof who taught me more, other than maybe David Blackstock.

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TwiceHorn

TwiceHorn 31695

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11 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

No, 1985.  Bob Freeman was the prof, early in his tenure.

Joe Beaman is the smartest man I've ever met.  I mean, his intellect is off the charts, and he was quite helpful to me over the years.  He doesn't suffer fools gladly, though.  I don't think I could name a prof who taught me more, other than maybe David Blackstock.

Ahhh.  Kinematics, then.  Still probably same Chuy.  Yeah, he is a smart guy, he just kind of sucks the air out of the room.  And he was a dick to TBP and PTS students trying to get professor signatures.

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Satoshi

Satoshi 129

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On 11/11/2021 at 2:28 PM, Brisketexan said:


Fantastic post. Among my student peers, I was on the conservative side. There was plenty of dumb hippie shit…and there was also plenty of discussion of various conservative thinkers and ideas. I didn’t feel oppressed, even though there were plenty of people who called for bans on this that or the other.

Because…and go with me here….I wasn’t a narcissist snowflake pussy like many of the “thought leaders” the aspiring U of A is waving about.

You do realize that the U of A is citing today’s university environment as being unhealthy?

Your experience from 40 years ago is irrelevant. They actually address how it used to be different. 

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 105617

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5 minutes ago, Satoshi said:

You do realize that the U of A is citing today’s university environment as being unhealthy?

Your experience from 40 years ago is irrelevant. They actually address how it used to be different. 

Yet.....every one of the titty-baby gripes I hear from you and the crowd behind this U of A idea are EXACTLY the same that I remember hearing back then (it wasn't 40 years ago, I ain't Armybrat-old, but it was a good while ago).  Hell, I SAID some of it back then.

But you know what I did?  You know what my wife did when she was confronted by what she perceived as an intolerant far-left position by a prof?  We pushed back.  We advocated for ourselves, our ideas, and the importance of making space for them.  Sometimes we gained ground.  Sometimes we didn't.  What we did NOT do is cry and take our ball and go home, refusing to acknowledge any role in our institutional failures.  We learned.  Those who studied with us and taught us learned.

If you don't see the irony of the very folks who cry the loudest about "snowflakes and their safe spaces" are building what already looks like....exactly what they are crying about, just for THEIR opinions and approaches.  We'll see if my perception turns out to be right (if they even make it far enough along for us to tell that).  I suspect that it will be, but I've been wrong before (ask my wife).

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Celery Man

Celery Man 21028

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2 hours ago, 52-80 said:

Dont we have literal countries, religions, corporations, and education institutions today that were founded because some like-minded founders wanted to split from the orthodoxy

That's true. And people rip on the ones that are founded by idiots and nutjobs, which is what we are seeing here.

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 90078

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Posted
5 hours ago, 52-80 said:

Dont we have literal countries, religions, corporations, and education institutions today that were founded because some like-minded founders wanted to split from the orthodoxy

Hell, isnt this website the UofAustin of Hornfans ?

We are UT sports fans.

We recognize grift when we see it.

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Neonmoon

Neonmoon 38130

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6 hours ago, 52-80 said:

Dont we have literal countries, religions, corporations, and education institutions today that were founded because some like-minded founders wanted to split from the orthodoxy

 

Hell, isnt this website the UofAustin of Hornfans ?

Now do Scientology 

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F250

F250 28955

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11 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Yet.....every one of the titty-baby gripes I hear from you and the crowd behind this U of A idea are EXACTLY the same that I remember hearing back then (it wasn't 40 years ago, I ain't Armybrat-old, but it was a good while ago).  Hell, I SAID some of it back then.

This came out after my freshman year and I ain't no spring chicken. This has been a complaint forever.

 

 

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gyroprotagonist

gyroprotagonist 2595

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Posted
On 11/11/2021 at 4:25 PM, F250 said:

Computer Science major in the 90's. Most of my peers were male, libertarian and sexist. It's how Tech Bros are made.

 

ENS was not even built with women's restrooms and later the powers that be graciously installed them on every other floor.  what more do you want?

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AeroHorn

AeroHorn 781

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On 11/9/2021 at 11:52 AM, Michael Knight said:

The University of Austin announcement comes at the same time that University of Texas at Austin leaders have been working with private donors and Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to launch a new think tank on that school’s campus that would be “dedicated to the study and teaching of individual liberty, limited government, private enterprise and free markets.” Texas legislators already approved an initial $6 million in funding for the Liberty Institute. UT-Austin officials have also committed $6 million.

 

 

Jesus christ

Isn't that just Cato Institute? They are opening a clone at UT? https://www.cato.org/about

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AeroHorn

AeroHorn 781

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6 minutes ago, F250 said:

I think the Liberty Institute is supposed to mimic the Hoover Institution at Stanford but Texas style. 

Mission/History | Hoover Institution

Looks like limited government and private enterprise are common to both, with Hoover emphasizing peaceful solutions (a cynical view would be the Star Wars' Empire's version of peace). The Texas version may emphasize religious liberty over world peace. 

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crash_davis

crash_davis 23161

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On 11/9/2021 at 1:52 PM, Michael Knight said:

The University of Austin announcement comes at the same time that University of Texas at Austin leaders have been working with private donors and Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to launch a new think tank on that school’s campus that would be “dedicated to the study and teaching of individual liberty, limited government, private enterprise and free markets.” Texas legislators already approved an initial $6 million in funding for the Liberty Institute. UT-Austin officials have also committed $6 million.

 

 

Jesus christ

Like Texas' "free" energy market where the energy companies privatize the profits but socialize the losses? They keep the profits but will bill Texans a fee for probably a decade to pay for their losses in the Icepocalypse. That free market????????????????????????????????????

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 105617

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Like Texas' "free" energy market where the energy companies privatize the profits but socialize the losses? They keep the profits but will bill Texans a fee for probably a decade to pay for their losses in the Icepocalypse. That free market????????????????????????????????????

That’s what “free markets” mean these days - profits for the big market players, costs and losses socialized among all the little people. “Free market” means “thumb on the scales, but not in your favor, people.”

Thought you’d gotten that memo.
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