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University of Austin classes will be held at the Old Parkland Campus in Dallas. (ULI Dallas-Fort Worth/Twitter)
The University of Austin is launching its controversial "Forbidden Courses" program Monday with two weeklong sessions at the Old Parkland Campus in Dallas.
The courses, which were announced by the new, unaccredited university when it was launched in November 2021, will be attended by 80 students as they "cultivate the habits of civil discourse." The university said it will look to investigate a different question each week, starting with "Who am I as an individual?" as it encourages seminar attendees to "discuss and debate the most vexing questions of our time."
This week, the university announced new speakers at the inaugural event, including Marvel co-president Robert Steffens; Jack Abraham, CEO of venture capitalist firm Atomic; Catherine Boyle, General Partner of V.C. firm Andreessen Horowitz; military strategist Edward Luttwak; and Founders Fund Michael Solana.
The no-credit seminar will include eight courses, including:
The "Forbidden Courses" earned its moniker from its founders, who said they created the university due to worries of restricted free speech on college campuses nationwide. Founders include incoming president Pano Kanelos, who described the current education system as "fractured," former New York Times op-ed editor Bari Weiss, academic Steven Pinker, and former Harvard University president Lawrence H. Summers. Weiss will also be a workshop leader at the seminar.
"We call our summer program the Forbidden Courses because the current turbulence–political, social, and cultural–is forbidding us from encountering one another honestly and authentically," the university's Forbidden Courses site reads. "Those who are going to lead, to innovate, to create, must learn how to rise above the static noise of social media, of commerce, of ideology, to see the world with greater clarity. Most importantly, we must learn again how to learn from one another."
Each student will take one course per week and participate in multiple workshops led by authors, educators, physicists and U of A founders including Weiss. The university, which has no physical campus, is unaccredited, and no classes will count for college credit. According to the organization, students attending include current Ivy League students, startup founders, published authors and scholars as well as college dropouts, first-generation students and those of "all political persuasions." Applications are currently closed.
The university is awaiting official nonprofit status and has Cicero Research, led by Austin-based tech investor and Palantir founder Joe Lonsdale, as its temporary sponsor. While it plans to hold "Forbidden Courses" every year and start masters' programs for entrepreneurship and leadership this fall, undergraduate programs are not expected to begin until 2024.
(José Garza/SFGovTV)
Chesa Boudin and José Garza share the rare handle of “progressive prosecutor”—Boudin in San Francisco and Garza in Austin.
Former public defender Boudin was voted out by nearly 60% of voters on Tuesday, after being elected by a slim margin in 2019 with a platform of police reform, criminal justice reform and addressing racial inequality. His opponents argue his policies threaten public safety.
As Travis County District Attorney Garza remains in office, halfway through his four-year term, he is so far silent on Boudin’s landslide defeat. Repeated calls to the D.A. by Austonia for his comment were not returned as of publication.
Garza and Boudin have a similar track record: Both have received endorsements from progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-VT; serve progressive cities; believe in holding law enforcement accountable and have been criticized for not being tough enough on criminals.
During his tenure, Boudin eliminated cash bail, reduced the prison population and brought nine criminal conduct cases against officers for misconduct.
Likewise, Garza obtained indictments of five Austin police officers, two sheriff’s deputies, an assistant county attorney and a sheriff on charges including tampering with evidence and murder. Distrust between Garza and Austin police is at a high level.
San Francisco is facing three major types of crime: Murders, burglaries and motor vehicle thefts have increased significantly since 2019. While a report by KXAN last October showed Austin shared a “sizable jump” in homicides in the past 18-24 months, the homicide rate remains at 7.69 per 100,000, which is lower than both Dallas and San Antonio.
San Francisco’s housing crisis doesn’t seem to be improving and neither does public perception of the expanding homeless population, but since Austin reinstated the camping ban in May 2021, the housing crisis has leveled off locally.
The Austin Police Association took notice of the San Francisco election, and the similarities that Boudin and Garza have shared. APA president Ken Casaday told Austonia the results were not surprising to him.
“San Francisco citizens became tired of the lack of prosecution of cases,” Casaday said. “The APA plans on allowing the citizens of Austin to make the decision on how to handle our D.A. After all, he was voted in by the citizens just like D.A. Boudin was two years ago.”
Casaday continued, “D.A. Garza is no different than Mr. Boudin. They were funded by the same people to do what they’ve done. In fact, Mr. Garza has never prosecuted a case in his life which makes it tough to understand the complexities of prosecuting cases.”
Austonia reached out to the office of congressional candidate Greg Casar and Judge Andy Brown, as well as organizations that have endorsed Garza, including Austin DSA, Black Austin Democrats and the Austin Justice Coalition but was not able to hear back for comment at the time of publication.
(Bob Daemmrich)
In just a few years, the men behind Texas-based tech giants could be some of the first trillionaires.
A new study by software company Tipalti Approve predicts Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, will reach trillionaire status by 2024. His estimated net worth at the start of the year was $263 billion and it has increased by an average of 129% since 2017, which puts him on track to reach a $1.38 trillion net worth at age 52.
Though Musk has other ventures like Neuralink and the Boring Company, the study notes Tesla and SpaceX as contributors to his growing wealth. Combined, the two companies saw Musk’s fortune grow more than 10 times from what it was in 2020.
Tipalti Approve carried out the study by comparing the annual net worths of the richest people from 2017 to the present day, to calculate the year on year annual growth rate of each and estimate when they’ll reach one trillion dollars.
Some expressed disappointment in the study with one Twitter user saying “every trillionaire is a policy failure.” Musk has commented on the massive amounts of wealth held by him and some of the others in the billionaire club.
Still, the study notes the trillionaire race isn’t certain, as Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was previously on the fastest track for the title.
“It was Bezos, not Musk, who a few years ago was expected to become the world’s first trillionaire, and who now isn’t expected to join the club until 2030, some six years after Musk,” the study notes.
The other likely trillionaire with ties to Central Texas is Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell Technologies. He’s predicted to become a trillionaire by 2033 when he’s 67 years old.
His current net worth is $60 billion, and he's expected to beat others like Mark Zuckerberg and Fort Worth billionaire Alice Walton to the trillionaire club.
