And, a much less biased and interesting take from 60 minutes is here:
Summary: Free and transparent debate with the ultimate goal of liberal enlightenment appears to be alive and well at UATX. In admissions, they go for MEI (merit, excellence and intelligence) over DEI. Love it!
Best wishes for every success. I am sure your students will be well rewarded.
Although producing graduates capable of succeeding in “traditional entry-level jobs” is a noble undertaking, this need not be an all-encompassing goal. And indeed Austin’s website states that among its principal pedagogical goals is preparing students to “lead meaningful and fulfilling lives.” Rather than subjecting themselves to the whims of employers, perhaps some students will lead meaningful and fulfilling lives via the self-employment route? And perhaps Austin can bolster those students' chances of success as well. And you, with your entrepreneurial experience, would be ideally situated to contribute in this regard.
Some educational institutions stand out for successfully producing graduates who pursue self-employment:
Perhaps AI can be incorporated into such strategies. This might be an area in which you could make a distinctive contribution. Or not, but at any rate, it might not be the absolute worst idea to consider as you approach your new endeavor.
Regarding AI’s and education: To make what seems an obvious point (but honestly, I really don’t hear anyone discussing this) is that AI can’t “just” replace our education most generally. It can only help us learn - ultimately to ask better questions.
Maybe a few, color-by-number jobs should be retired, but not the ability to ask the right questions - a task that ultimately, is within any job that’s worth having in the first place. When the focus of AI becomes asking questions rather than answering them, that’s when we should start to worry.
The most basic example is reading. Out of convenience, you might have an AI read something to you but you still need to be taught how to read in the first place. More to the point, to make sense of (to build upon) more sophisticated material (or answers from an AI), you’l need to know what it is saying and what that all means.
We need to learn things before we can have machines helping us do those things. To use a simple analogy, calculators are great once we know what adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing are in the first place.
If we think a job is something where the ideal worker on need push a button and ask no question along the way, setting the AI’s ground-based wheels in motion, these are not jobs worth having and they deserve (more than any), to be replaced.
For everything else, there are humans until such time that we no longer need humans. If someone is getting paid to remove humans, it’s important to know what they mean by “replacing” humans.
The climate in Austin will be much milder and sunnier January through March than in the D.C. area - daily highs almost 20 degrees warmer. And it will be great to participate in the new University of Austin where real education rather than mindless indoctrination is valued. Best wishes, Arnold!
I cannot find in the curriculum that there is an opportunity for students to learn about the functioning of natural systems, in terms of the fields of physics, chemistry, and biology. Does that indicate the University administration considers such knowledge irrelevant in the basic education of their students and the functioning of human social systems on Earth?
Couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the idea that you don’t spring up a new institution excellent in every field overnight.
Or with the reality that - climate change of course excepted - STEM fields have been far less ideologized and politicized than others in mainstream academia…
That Hampshire website entry was another of those “shocking but not surprising” things to read, especially here in 2025.
Hard to believe that there is a loophole this size still in Title VI and Title IX: schools aren’t allowed to *practice* discrimination, but they are allowed to mandatorily *indoctrinate* discrimination!
The University of Austin sounds like exactly the kind of college I would like to attend if I could transport 59 year-old me into my 18 year-old body. Unfortunately, 18 year-old me was far too much of a mess to have made anything of such an opportunity.
" On the other hand, if AI flops, then by the time they graduate we may experience the worst financial implosion since 1929, followed by a political upheaval that leads to socialism. Have a nice day, freshman!"
I also saw a video clip with Maher and George Will. George was rooting for Mamdani. His take was that small reminders of how bad socialism is are needed from time to time.
Congrats! I met the founder in Davos earlier this year and was very impressed. I think University of Austin is doing something very cool. It seems like it just depends if the top students are willing to take the risk of going to a startup school instead of something with an established prestige / reputation.
I'm teaching an online course this term. As part of my foray into talking about AI with the students I created a document showing a way I used AI in the field. It's not much, but it's a start.
Oh heck yeah! The students will be so fortunate to take a course from Professor Kling.
If you are curious about a “day in the life” view of the University of Austin, then this video from the WSJ was great (ignore the strange title):
https://youtu.be/iQBFhvr9cTQ?si=brgrgzaHBaGpo7AS
And, a much less biased and interesting take from 60 minutes is here:
Summary: Free and transparent debate with the ultimate goal of liberal enlightenment appears to be alive and well at UATX. In admissions, they go for MEI (merit, excellence and intelligence) over DEI. Love it!
https://youtu.be/qo-jalHDbCc?si=2YjNZIIUYLp7akuy
That makes me think even more highly of UAustin.
Best wishes for every success. I am sure your students will be well rewarded.
Although producing graduates capable of succeeding in “traditional entry-level jobs” is a noble undertaking, this need not be an all-encompassing goal. And indeed Austin’s website states that among its principal pedagogical goals is preparing students to “lead meaningful and fulfilling lives.” Rather than subjecting themselves to the whims of employers, perhaps some students will lead meaningful and fulfilling lives via the self-employment route? And perhaps Austin can bolster those students' chances of success as well. And you, with your entrepreneurial experience, would be ideally situated to contribute in this regard.
Some educational institutions stand out for successfully producing graduates who pursue self-employment:
https://universitybusiness.com/the-15-colleges-producing-the-most-homegrown-entrepreneurs/
I am curious to learn what these institutions might have in common, or not.
And support for the entrepreneurial-minded student is hardly an original idea. See: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/how-support-students-considering-selfemployment
Perhaps AI can be incorporated into such strategies. This might be an area in which you could make a distinctive contribution. Or not, but at any rate, it might not be the absolute worst idea to consider as you approach your new endeavor.
Regarding AI’s and education: To make what seems an obvious point (but honestly, I really don’t hear anyone discussing this) is that AI can’t “just” replace our education most generally. It can only help us learn - ultimately to ask better questions.
Maybe a few, color-by-number jobs should be retired, but not the ability to ask the right questions - a task that ultimately, is within any job that’s worth having in the first place. When the focus of AI becomes asking questions rather than answering them, that’s when we should start to worry.
The most basic example is reading. Out of convenience, you might have an AI read something to you but you still need to be taught how to read in the first place. More to the point, to make sense of (to build upon) more sophisticated material (or answers from an AI), you’l need to know what it is saying and what that all means.
We need to learn things before we can have machines helping us do those things. To use a simple analogy, calculators are great once we know what adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing are in the first place.
If we think a job is something where the ideal worker on need push a button and ask no question along the way, setting the AI’s ground-based wheels in motion, these are not jobs worth having and they deserve (more than any), to be replaced.
For everything else, there are humans until such time that we no longer need humans. If someone is getting paid to remove humans, it’s important to know what they mean by “replacing” humans.
Well said.
Fantastic news, and lucky students.
Congratulations! What a fine opportunity for the students! Please keep us posted.
The climate in Austin will be much milder and sunnier January through March than in the D.C. area - daily highs almost 20 degrees warmer. And it will be great to participate in the new University of Austin where real education rather than mindless indoctrination is valued. Best wishes, Arnold!
I cannot find in the curriculum that there is an opportunity for students to learn about the functioning of natural systems, in terms of the fields of physics, chemistry, and biology. Does that indicate the University administration considers such knowledge irrelevant in the basic education of their students and the functioning of human social systems on Earth?
Yes, that is obviously what it indicates.
Couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the idea that you don’t spring up a new institution excellent in every field overnight.
Or with the reality that - climate change of course excepted - STEM fields have been far less ideologized and politicized than others in mainstream academia…
That Hampshire website entry was another of those “shocking but not surprising” things to read, especially here in 2025.
Hard to believe that there is a loophole this size still in Title VI and Title IX: schools aren’t allowed to *practice* discrimination, but they are allowed to mandatorily *indoctrinate* discrimination!
The University of Austin sounds like exactly the kind of college I would like to attend if I could transport 59 year-old me into my 18 year-old body. Unfortunately, 18 year-old me was far too much of a mess to have made anything of such an opportunity.
Good luck in your endeavor.
" On the other hand, if AI flops, then by the time they graduate we may experience the worst financial implosion since 1929, followed by a political upheaval that leads to socialism. Have a nice day, freshman!"
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/finance-and-economy/3797219/favorability-on-the-decline-gallup-capitalism-poll/
I also saw a video clip with Maher and George Will. George was rooting for Mamdani. His take was that small reminders of how bad socialism is are needed from time to time.
Very cool. Hope it goes well.
I am very excited to hopefully be in your class!
That footnote about Hampshire College is scary. One can simply imagine the indoctrination occurring in the 20-hour required session.
Congrats! I met the founder in Davos earlier this year and was very impressed. I think University of Austin is doing something very cool. It seems like it just depends if the top students are willing to take the risk of going to a startup school instead of something with an established prestige / reputation.
I'm teaching an online course this term. As part of my foray into talking about AI with the students I created a document showing a way I used AI in the field. It's not much, but it's a start.