Education
Ivy League Backlash Draws Money, Students to Upstart University in Texas
The University of Austin sees a surge in attention as Mideast conflict roils elite campuses
The University of Austin will be located inside the Scarborough Building in Austin.
Photographer: Sergio Flores/Bloomberg
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It seemed ambitious, verging on grandiose, when journalist Bari Weiss used her Substack newsletter in 2021 to reveal plans for a new university in Austin, Texas.
The project — to address the “gaping chasm between the promise and the reality of higher education” — was backed by prominent people in academia and finance, including the historian Niall Ferguson, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale.