The Exchanges

Q And I've gotten dozens of texts saying, actually, I want to help now. I realize why you're doing this. But Pano, why is this the moment for you, ATX?

A It's a moment because when we first announced what we were doing, we proclaimed that we were building a new university dedicated to the fearless pursuit of truth. And we're watching college presidents testify before Congress, incapable of saying things that they know are true. You're just watching them shut down in a moment and incapable of speaking the words that they know are true to, to be incapable of saying that genocide is an evil. And that students on your campus who are hearing calls for genocide are in some ways not threatened or intimidated by that. Being incapable of speaking those words, it makes you realize that from the top down, uh, truth itself is at risk in American higher education.

AI assessment note: “It's a moment because when we first announced what we were doing”

Q So practically speaking, Pano, how can parents and students engage with UATX over the coming months? What sort of ways can they, can they learn more?

A Well, you know, obviously the website is a place to start, youaustin.org, but, but because, you know, when we think about recruiting students and we're out there looking for that brave 100, you know, we're recruiting students the way that other universities recruit their football teams. All right. We're going out there. We're hitting the ground. We're meeting students where they are. We're having salons, for example, in cities across the country where we have small groups gathered for dinner and conversation. We're taking our intellectual foundations high school program on the road. We've, we started in Austin. We've been in San Francisco and New York and DC. We have programs upcoming in Phoenix and LA and Denver, I believe. We're trying to go out there because we think the most important thing we can do in recruiting students is actually get to know them face to face and in person because it's a huge commitment to make in both directions. I mean, to, to become part of a, a, a nascent university, um, You know, this is, this is a major adventure, and so the better that they can know us, and the better we can know them, uh, we will be assured of finding those brave 100.

AI assessment note: “obviously the website is a place to start... We're having salons, for example”

Q So Pano, what kinds of students are we looking for? We've had hundreds of applications. There's lots of great students coming. We're giving scholarships, of course, to all of our first hundred founding undergraduates. You know, what kinds of students would excel at UATX? Who do you want to come here?

A Well, uh, what, what goes into making a Navy seal of the mind, I guess, is the question. And, uh, obviously, uh, intellectual aptitude and capacity evidence, um, for that is essential in an application process. And, and so we take very seriously, uh, you know, quantitative measures, um, uh, standardized testing, GPAs, class ranking, and that, because we want to understand, you know, uh, the operating system inside a student's mind, but, but character is also very important. And a capacity for creativity, a capacity to bring together these disparate threads of disciplines and ideas, a capacity for leadership, the ability to essentially, the way I think of leadership is accepting the responsibility that comes with the capabilities that you have, capacity to do that. We're looking for those sorts of things. We're also looking for students who understand the value of the particular kind of institution we're building that are Going to be fully committed to open inquiry and civil discourse and, and understand that these are, these are not optional principles, but they're essential to operating an institution dedicated to the life of the mind. So, you know, I, I think we're, we're already seeing in the applicants, um, mavericks, independent minded thinkers. We're seeing students who have a deep interest in the sciences, the students who have deep interest in the arts and humanities, b…

AI assessment note: “intellectual aptitude and capacity evidence... character is also very important... mavericks, independent minded thinkers”

Q really lacking amongst our leaders right now. It's what you've done the last few weeks is taking a lot of courage. Like, like how important are, are, are virtues to inculcate? Is that something you're supposed to do as a university? Is that something you're, you're supposed to have open conversations is maybe these virtues are good or not. Like, like, like what's, what's, how do these tie into this?

A I mean, I do think, um, the formation of character is a central, um, Should be a central priority of universities. Um, however, those, however you categorize these things. Um, and I think courage is essential. Um, you know, we, one of the things that we are, um, Proposing as an institution is that we're, that we're going to be committed not to the pursuit of truth, but to the fearless pursuit of truth. And the fearless piece, the courageous piece is the important part. Um, because truth is difficult. Truth is risky. Truth is on the fringes. Truth is heterodox. It's outside what's normative. And if you're really going to extend yourself and try to understand the world, um, as best as we can, You have to be willing to go outside the boundaries of what's safe. So courage is, I think that the, the most, um, important, uh, element of, um, uh, of, of a true education.

AI assessment note: “the formation of character is a central, should be a central priority of universities”

Q to be this horrible, horrible thing, and so, so, I mean, are there, are there, are there mistakes being made like that Today, and I, anyway, it's not, you shouldn't compare anything to Hitler, but I mean, are there just group think mistakes, and, and, and, and, and, and is that something just endemic to academia, and how to, and to humanity, and how do we push back on that?

A I mean, I, I don't know of anything that egregious today, um, but what I would say, I mean, there certainly is groupthink, and, um, I think the problem, one of the root problems today in higher education, which is endemic to the culture at large, is, is not so much that everybody, most people, almost everybody in higher education is on one end of the political spectrum, the left, it's the political asymmetry itself. Um, you know, if you're creating a culture of conversation and openness, um, and with it, you know, and, and within that you create a kind of bubble where people's opinions are, um, shared amongst like-minded people and those who disagree with those opinions are excluded from the group, you're, you're really not serving the purpose of a, of a university.

AI assessment note: “I don't know of anything that egregious today, um, but what I would say, I mean, there certainly is groupthink”

Q And, you know, so for decades now, people have been lamenting the state of higher education, and yet there hasn't really been a top new university this whole time. No one's gone and started one. Uh, you, you're now in the process of starting one. Uh, did you have, do you have more insight on why people have not done this before, given, given, given your last few weeks?

A It's, it's, it's tremendously difficult. Um, I mean, there is, there, I mean, a university is a very complex organization. Um, and starting it from the ground up is, is immensely complex. There's so many things to think about, so many features that, um, that are at play. Um, but I think really at heart, it's, um, You start new institutions when you recognize that there's a North Star that you want to aim for, and I think the North Star that we have, um, that we're, that we're currently aiming for right now is a kind of renewal of the spirit of the pursuit of truth in higher education. Um, and once, you know, once that becomes evident, once it's sort of, you know, it's there in front of you, you say, like, look, we need to We need to recapture that spirit. We need to, we need to reorient our institutions so that truth seeking is the highest good at universities.

AI assessment note: “You start new institutions when you recognize that there's a North Star”