Excellent article. I’m at an age where my daughters were lucky enough upon entering university to be at the very beginning of the loss of free speech and critical thinking on campus, not to mention a dearth of the ability to reason coupled with a lack of courage on the part of faculty. They emerged relatively unscathed and still with strong skills to discern for themselves how to think and learn. I consider us all very fortunate.
Watching as we have since from afar the descent into madness of universities across the world, it’s heartening to read about UATX. I’ll be recommending exploring it to as many younger parents and prospective students as I can, and I’m sure my daughters will do the same with their younger aquaintances.
What I didn’t see here was a way to donate to this fine and budding enterprise. Did I miss that?
Agreed. I am incredibly optimistic about helping to build UATX, which is looking at 2024 for an official first class!
As Aristotle writes in the metaphysics, "All men desire to know." I believe he is correct. We just need to give people an opportunity to freely inquire and to the tools to do so.
If you'd like to donate so that we can continue our work, I would profoundly appreciate that. Here's a link to our non-profit:
I was beginning to think that all universities were nothing but cesspools filled with progressive borderline fascist professors, but looks like there may be a ray of hope for students to learn how to think instead of being told what they are allowed to think. Well done. I applaud your dedication.
Found your channel by complete chance, and I have to say. It is a pleasure to be able to see you doing genuine and interesting work regarding free speech. To challenge the comfort and "safe space" people have divulged themselves into and also inciting genuine and inciteful conversations while teaching how to discuss and argue opposing topics fruitfully. I must say, exceptional work.
I'm a Berkeley alumnus from the 1980s, so it pains me deeply to read of my beloved alma mater becoming a very un-Berkeley, illiberal place. At the same time, I am skeptical that Berkeley has changed as much as reported. Not only does the campus continue to attract curious free thinkers such as Max Keating—and I could point to many other examples including wonderful students of my own who recently have transferred to Cal—but in your recent campus-tour videos, Peter, I was struck by how much I enjoyed the ones filmed at Berkeley. Both outside on Sproul Plaza, and what appeared to be inside a lecture room in Dwinelle Hall, you attracted a really interesting mix of thoughtful and articulate participants—exactly the sort of students I fondly recall as classmates from decades ago. Small and self-selected sample size, I know, but my suspicion (and certainly my hope) is that these street epistemologists you gathered, along with Keating, are much more representative of the larger student body than the small-but-loud censorious cohort that gets most of the attention.
Is this consistent with your own impression? I would love to read a reflection, Peter, on your tour. Are you more optimistic now about the future for a liberal learning environment on American campuses, whether new ones like Austin's or old ones like Berkeley's? Or did the experience leave you even more deflated about where higher ed is headed?
Thank you, Pete. Berkeley actually tried to cancel our event, but due to the tenacity of the student group (we've posted those videos to our YouTube channel) and threats of lawsuits, the event went on as planned!
I cannot say how representative this group of students and community members was. They're obviously self-selected as they came to the event, and we couldn't run the exercise with students who did not attend.
For my more general perspective, I think legacy academies are on hospice. It's time to build new institutions and genuinely value the pursuit of truth.
As an addendum, today's concern about the future of free thinking on campus, especially when it comes to issues of "identity politics", is not new. An old grad-school professor of mine, the great geographer Yi-Fu Tuan who passed away last week, spent much of the early 1990s fretting about the sensibilities of Gen-X students such as myself. In one of Yi-Fu's locally famous "Dear Colleague" letters, from December 1991, he wrote: "... contemporary society is increasingly bent on using all its massive engines of propaganda to persuade us otherwise. Since elementary school, these students have been told that people are different, that it is this difference that matters, that culture--far from being tinted spectacles that distort reality--is just about the only thing of value, to be uncritically embraced. I can speak only with human beings--with the kernel in each of us which responds to a human (rather than merely cultural or gender) voice. How does one communicate with students who only know of 'diversity', and for whom 'common humanity' is an alien (and probably subversive) concept?" http://www.yifutuan.org/archive/1991/19911201.pdf
From yesterday, a lovely obituary from UW-Madison celebrating the life of Professor Tuan. RIP.
We're training students to think along intersectional vectors and to obsess over oppression variables, but we should be teaching them how to think in terms of supraordinate identities. That is, not parsing differences but finding commonalities.
Thanks to the author - uatx is needed in this landscape of unmoderated cancel culture, I hope it will focus not just on being ideologically neutral, and supportive of discourse on topics that might not align to the “liberal” viewpoint but on studies that equip a student for a productive life. My niece was a “social” studies student 20 years ago. A bank teller now And grateful for it after walking a gauntlet of jobs with a multitude of agencies That equipped her with all the terminology of victim hood but ultimately frustrated her because their goals seemed less about launching people into healthy productive lives and more about promoting their causes.
I have one child left to attend college. It would be a dream for him to benefit from the education offered by UATX. Even though I completed my Master’s degree in Education from an ivy back in the early 90s, the pressure to conform to groupthink was pervasive even back then. I recall only one professor who did not tow the politically correct party line. Of course, students naturally labeled him as “racist.” I am disappointed my first two college-educated children were never instructed how to think. But they were certainly told what to think.
I hear stories like this quite frequently. That's why it's time to build new institutions and let legacy institutions push themselves further into irrelevance.
I have followed UATX nearly from inception, am a huge fan of Bari Weiss, and am seeing glimmers of hope that freedom will prevail. But they are just glimmers and they can easily be darkened.
One of the interesting juxtapositions is the depiction of the "extremes" on both sides by the left. The left likes to portray the "extreme" right as huge, powerful, and a threat to the country when it is none of those. (in the oft cited attempt to kidnap the Gov. of MI, there were more FBI agents involved in the plot than there were participants) The left likes to portray its extreme as small, weak, and irrelevant when it is none of those. The last two years have shown us that the "extreme" left, those who want forced vaccines, lockdowns, suppression of speech, marginalization (and if they were honest - jailing) of their political opponents, are in power in the federal government, control social media, academia, and mainstream media.
I'm glad UATX is working so far, but the survey evidence provided indicates that we are dealing with a generation of largely fanatical and often violent youngsters. This is a recipe for war.
I can't even imagine teaching a classroom with so many angry little monsters.
Could this, might this be the result of a parenting style / culture that hoped to improve their lives by endowing them with a sense of their entitlements and rights, with the end goal of building self-esteem? I recall the attitudes from back then and even then it seened enfeebling, vs. strengthening. I think we are seeing that a focus on fulfilling responsibilities and achieving goals is a better road to self esteem.
That is a very strong tendency. Parents 20 years ago were often focused on their child's "rights," protecting him/her from other kids or from criticism, etc. They would come in to the office after a discipline problem and try to litigate what happened. This was somewhat new. Of course in some cases it was justified, but that notion of seeing all criticism or discipline as unfair or tainted by bad motives has leaked into the successor ideology.
There's hope for the world, as, clearly, some of the kids are alright! This is an elegant article!
You're absolutely correct. There is hope and a reason for optimism!
Thank you for this account, it gave me a dose of optimism — a rarity these days.
Thank you for reading!
Good luck with this endeavour, which gives me hope, as a secondary teacher in the UK.
Excellent article. I’m at an age where my daughters were lucky enough upon entering university to be at the very beginning of the loss of free speech and critical thinking on campus, not to mention a dearth of the ability to reason coupled with a lack of courage on the part of faculty. They emerged relatively unscathed and still with strong skills to discern for themselves how to think and learn. I consider us all very fortunate.
Watching as we have since from afar the descent into madness of universities across the world, it’s heartening to read about UATX. I’ll be recommending exploring it to as many younger parents and prospective students as I can, and I’m sure my daughters will do the same with their younger aquaintances.
What I didn’t see here was a way to donate to this fine and budding enterprise. Did I miss that?
Agreed. I am incredibly optimistic about helping to build UATX, which is looking at 2024 for an official first class!
As Aristotle writes in the metaphysics, "All men desire to know." I believe he is correct. We just need to give people an opportunity to freely inquire and to the tools to do so.
If you'd like to donate so that we can continue our work, I would profoundly appreciate that. Here's a link to our non-profit:
https://www.nationalprogressalliance.org/donate/
Thank you.
I was beginning to think that all universities were nothing but cesspools filled with progressive borderline fascist professors, but looks like there may be a ray of hope for students to learn how to think instead of being told what they are allowed to think. Well done. I applaud your dedication.
Thanks, I appreciate that. I am excited to help build UATX!
Found your channel by complete chance, and I have to say. It is a pleasure to be able to see you doing genuine and interesting work regarding free speech. To challenge the comfort and "safe space" people have divulged themselves into and also inciting genuine and inciteful conversations while teaching how to discuss and argue opposing topics fruitfully. I must say, exceptional work.
Thank you. I appreciate that and I appreciate your support of my work and of free speech, critical thinking, and open inquiry.
I'm a Berkeley alumnus from the 1980s, so it pains me deeply to read of my beloved alma mater becoming a very un-Berkeley, illiberal place. At the same time, I am skeptical that Berkeley has changed as much as reported. Not only does the campus continue to attract curious free thinkers such as Max Keating—and I could point to many other examples including wonderful students of my own who recently have transferred to Cal—but in your recent campus-tour videos, Peter, I was struck by how much I enjoyed the ones filmed at Berkeley. Both outside on Sproul Plaza, and what appeared to be inside a lecture room in Dwinelle Hall, you attracted a really interesting mix of thoughtful and articulate participants—exactly the sort of students I fondly recall as classmates from decades ago. Small and self-selected sample size, I know, but my suspicion (and certainly my hope) is that these street epistemologists you gathered, along with Keating, are much more representative of the larger student body than the small-but-loud censorious cohort that gets most of the attention.
Is this consistent with your own impression? I would love to read a reflection, Peter, on your tour. Are you more optimistic now about the future for a liberal learning environment on American campuses, whether new ones like Austin's or old ones like Berkeley's? Or did the experience leave you even more deflated about where higher ed is headed?
Thank you, Pete. Berkeley actually tried to cancel our event, but due to the tenacity of the student group (we've posted those videos to our YouTube channel) and threats of lawsuits, the event went on as planned!
I cannot say how representative this group of students and community members was. They're obviously self-selected as they came to the event, and we couldn't run the exercise with students who did not attend.
For my more general perspective, I think legacy academies are on hospice. It's time to build new institutions and genuinely value the pursuit of truth.
As an addendum, today's concern about the future of free thinking on campus, especially when it comes to issues of "identity politics", is not new. An old grad-school professor of mine, the great geographer Yi-Fu Tuan who passed away last week, spent much of the early 1990s fretting about the sensibilities of Gen-X students such as myself. In one of Yi-Fu's locally famous "Dear Colleague" letters, from December 1991, he wrote: "... contemporary society is increasingly bent on using all its massive engines of propaganda to persuade us otherwise. Since elementary school, these students have been told that people are different, that it is this difference that matters, that culture--far from being tinted spectacles that distort reality--is just about the only thing of value, to be uncritically embraced. I can speak only with human beings--with the kernel in each of us which responds to a human (rather than merely cultural or gender) voice. How does one communicate with students who only know of 'diversity', and for whom 'common humanity' is an alien (and probably subversive) concept?" http://www.yifutuan.org/archive/1991/19911201.pdf
From yesterday, a lovely obituary from UW-Madison celebrating the life of Professor Tuan. RIP.
https://news.wisc.edu/uw-madison-mourns-influential-beloved-geography-professor-yi-fu-tuan/
Lovely. I am sorry for your loss.
We're training students to think along intersectional vectors and to obsess over oppression variables, but we should be teaching them how to think in terms of supraordinate identities. That is, not parsing differences but finding commonalities.
Perceptive words by Tuan. Thank you for both of these.
Thanks to the author - uatx is needed in this landscape of unmoderated cancel culture, I hope it will focus not just on being ideologically neutral, and supportive of discourse on topics that might not align to the “liberal” viewpoint but on studies that equip a student for a productive life. My niece was a “social” studies student 20 years ago. A bank teller now And grateful for it after walking a gauntlet of jobs with a multitude of agencies That equipped her with all the terminology of victim hood but ultimately frustrated her because their goals seemed less about launching people into healthy productive lives and more about promoting their causes.
I agree completely and I can assure you UATX is unshakably committed to the fearless pursuit of truth.
I wish I were young enough to attend UATX!
Me too
Revoke all degrees including my own until there is scientific verification that the degree holders actually have knowledge.
I have one child left to attend college. It would be a dream for him to benefit from the education offered by UATX. Even though I completed my Master’s degree in Education from an ivy back in the early 90s, the pressure to conform to groupthink was pervasive even back then. I recall only one professor who did not tow the politically correct party line. Of course, students naturally labeled him as “racist.” I am disappointed my first two college-educated children were never instructed how to think. But they were certainly told what to think.
I hear stories like this quite frequently. That's why it's time to build new institutions and let legacy institutions push themselves further into irrelevance.
Nicely done, Max.
I have followed UATX nearly from inception, am a huge fan of Bari Weiss, and am seeing glimmers of hope that freedom will prevail. But they are just glimmers and they can easily be darkened.
One of the interesting juxtapositions is the depiction of the "extremes" on both sides by the left. The left likes to portray the "extreme" right as huge, powerful, and a threat to the country when it is none of those. (in the oft cited attempt to kidnap the Gov. of MI, there were more FBI agents involved in the plot than there were participants) The left likes to portray its extreme as small, weak, and irrelevant when it is none of those. The last two years have shown us that the "extreme" left, those who want forced vaccines, lockdowns, suppression of speech, marginalization (and if they were honest - jailing) of their political opponents, are in power in the federal government, control social media, academia, and mainstream media.
I'm glad UATX is working so far, but the survey evidence provided indicates that we are dealing with a generation of largely fanatical and often violent youngsters. This is a recipe for war.
I can't even imagine teaching a classroom with so many angry little monsters.
Could this, might this be the result of a parenting style / culture that hoped to improve their lives by endowing them with a sense of their entitlements and rights, with the end goal of building self-esteem? I recall the attitudes from back then and even then it seened enfeebling, vs. strengthening. I think we are seeing that a focus on fulfilling responsibilities and achieving goals is a better road to self esteem.
That is a very strong tendency. Parents 20 years ago were often focused on their child's "rights," protecting him/her from other kids or from criticism, etc. They would come in to the office after a discipline problem and try to litigate what happened. This was somewhat new. Of course in some cases it was justified, but that notion of seeing all criticism or discipline as unfair or tainted by bad motives has leaked into the successor ideology.