University of Austin hopes to counter what is a culture of censorship | Hacker News Reader

University of Austin hopes to counter what is a culture of censorship

texastribune.org

22 pointsxqcgrek213 comments

I agree but it should avoid being geared towards pushing any particular political agenda or it would cynically hypocritical. Debate on most college campuses is missing and has been replaced by childish histrionics. The problem is that faculty and administrators have stopped leading culture and have given-in and condone irrational behavior of poorly-raised, infantile, sheltered children who don't know anything.

Politics aside (if you don’t know what I mean, go to some of the founders twitter feeds), I like the idea of people making new universities. I just hope this leads to other entrepreneurs launching their own universities as well. I go to a “top engineering school” and have repeatedly been amazed at how poorly run and antiquated the program can be

"[E]ntrepreneurs launching their own universities" is simply a horrible idea - the whole idea of education as a for-profit venture is unacceptable. Yes, I know, this is a very European point of view. But at least the students in most European countries don't have to pay off their student loans over several decades...

Of course, a for-profit university like this one run by right-wing nuts is even more horrible. "fiercely independent", what a joke.

I didn’t say it had to be for profit. I would like an someone with an entrepreneurial mindset to start one. Entrepeneur was perhaps the wrong term.

Look at many universities endowments and admin size/pay over the last twenty years. I want new ideas

Which ones are right wing nuts?

... the ones that appeared on Joe Rogan! /s

Seriously though, .. it sucks to see obvious well-poisoning in the comments of HN.

I don't know about Kathleen Stock, but Peter Boghossian and Ayaan Hirsi Ali aren't exactly what I would "right wing nuts".

Maybe they're referring to Joe Lonsdale who is on the board?

Kathleen stock is no more right wing than either Boghossian or Ali - arguably to the left of them.

Discussed yesterday (and weirdly flagged to death)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29155505

Very weird. Whether this is a misguided project or not, the issue of censorship is extremely relevant to HN, and is often discussed at length. How did this end up getting flagged?

And

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29165109

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29164274

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29161926

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29157538

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29148685

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29157445

With the recent gubernatorial election in Virginia we've started to see some cracks forming in the progressive left monolith. If we ever do achieve a return to rational normalcy, let's just stop there and count our blessings. Let's not heap ridicule on those who were taken in by critical theory or seek some kind of vengeance.

The problem is that the right wing nut jobs have forced the pendulum to swing so far to the right that if Nixon or Reagan were alive today, they would be considered left wing nut jobs.

There is something radically wrong with that outcome.

i hope this succeeds. We need alternatives to the academia orthodoxy. it's not a left-right issue about about the free inquiry of knowledge.

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