Politics plays a vital role in every aspect of citizens’ lives, including education. In pursuit of political diversity, some millionaires are donating large sums to establish the first “anti-woke” university in Austin, Texas. Their decision was driven, in part, by anti-Zionist protests that have popped up on college campuses across the U.S., even in Silicon Valley.
Israel-Hamas conflict as a catalyst. Following the outbreak of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, students at various campuses initiated protests, calling for universities to cut ties with Israel in protest of civilian casualties in Gaza, according to the BBC.
Several universities conceded to student pressure and halted certain activities, a move that displeased some wealthy donors. As The Wall Street Journal reported, these philanthropic benefactors believe that a rigid orthodoxy has taken root at educational institutions. In response, they decided to create their own university.
The millionaires’ bet: the University of Austin. The University of Austin has only 92 students, which isn’t surprising, given that it’s one of the newest universities in the country. It’s just three years old and is starting its first year of classes. Among its top donors are influential magnates and wealthy investors, who’ve contributed more than $200 million to the new educational project.
Some, such as investor Len Blavatnik, majority shareholder of Warner Music, have even stopped donating to Harvard University to contribute to the new university. Blavatnik is a Harvard alumnus. The founders of the project include Palantir Technologies co-founder Joe Lonsdale and journalist Bari Weiss, known for her involvement in the “Twitter Files.” According to CBS News, the files allegedly revealed the “woke” bias of Twitter’s moderators before Tesla CEO Elon Musk bought the social network and rebranded it as X.
University of Austin, the “anti-woke” university. According to real estate developer Harlan Crow, another of the institution’s benefactors, the main reason for supporting this new university is a “fearless pursuit of truth.”
“Much of higher ed today seems to want to reject Western accomplishments and the accomplishments of Western civilizations in their entirety. Many people think that’s a bad idea,” Crow told The Wall Street Journal.
Billionaires such as Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan and Pershing Square Capital Management CEO Bill Ackman were highly critical of the ideological responses from universities following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. This led them to seek an educational project more aligned with their ideology, reflected in messages such as the one in a University of Austin promotional video: “They burn, we build,” in response to pro-Palestinian protests on campuses.
It may not be an overtly political university, but it has an ideology. The official stance of the University of Austin is that it’s not aligned with a particular political ideology. However, some of its major donors, such as Jess Yass, the largest U.S. investor in TikTok, make significant contributions to Republican candidates and causes, according to Forbes.
University of Austin president Pano Kanelos said the school’s top 10 donors vary in political ideology, but “all of our donors are critical of current higher education. I have no interest in an anti-woke university, whatever that means. When we build this institution, there will be people of every intellectual stripe, or we will have failed,” Kanelos said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
Millionaires vs. elite universities. The discomfort felt by millionaires regarding the political stance of elite universities is being reflected in their donations. Recently, Harvard University president Alan Garber expressed concern over poor fundraising numbers for 2024. Meanwhile, Ackman described the institution’s financial troubles as one of the few pivotal moments for Harvard.
“It took what happened in the wake of Oct. 7 on the major campuses to convince Wall Street, to convince people in Silicon Valley, that there really was a problem with higher education,” Niall Ferguson, founder of the University of Austin, said, according to the Journal.
Free education as a first-year incentive. The University of Austin won’t receive official accreditation as a university until its first class graduates. As a result, its inaugural students are taking a leap of faith into a new institution, with the cost fully covered by its wealthy benefactors. These students receive full-tuition scholarships valued at approximately $130,000 each. 40% of the students are locals, who chose the university due to its proximity, and 33% are women.
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