Speaker 1: All right, everybody, I have a grift alert for you today.
This is I'm going to give you the facts that we know, but I'm going to tell you ahead of
time.
I've been looking at this very strongly for the last 24 to 48 hours.
My Grif diameter is going crazy, right?
You know how, like with a Geiger counter, when you get close to radiation, it's like
it's going crazy.
The equivalent of with grifting s grifting is going off in my head as if I were next
to the equivalent of a of of exposed uranium with a Geiger counter.
There is a new university being launched with the help of former New York Times reporter
Barry Weiss and others called the University of Austin.
I'll describe it to you as it's being reported.
OK, the Daily Beast Palantir founder is backing Barry Weiss No degree university.
Weiss is helping launch the University of Austin.
It is not yet accredited and does not offer degrees.
OK, so right away, you have to remember.
Part of why you go to university is to learn.
And part of why you go is because there is this game.
It's admittedly it is a game.
It's a system in which you need this degree in order to get certain jobs.
And so maybe you would learn that there's no degree, no accreditation university, but
it would not exactly help you get a job.
The former New York Times opinion columnist Barry Weiss, known for her diatribes against
cancel culture, announced Monday she's helping launch a new university and its universities
in quotes that will be quote dedicated to the fearless pursuit of truth.
The somewhat vague mission statement suggests the institution called the University of Austin,
or 280X, will be a home for those who have been shunned from, quote, illiberal college
campuses.
Griped you ATX, his inaugural president, Pano Canelo's, four out of five American PhD students
are willing to discriminate against right wing scholars.
The announcement of this was posted to Bari Weiss's Substack newsletter, which you can
sign up and pay for if you want.
Buried in the school's fake hue, it does not actually offer degrees, nor is it yet accredited.
Also noted in the Q, the school is fiscally sponsored by a little known nonprofit called
Cicero Research.
According to public filings, Cicero is affiliated with Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of the polarizing
data mining company Palantir.
As of 2020, the nonprofit listed No Assets.
Lonsdale is also a member of the 280X Board of Advisors.
A spokesperson for the school said We're very proud to have Lonsdale on our board and as
a financial supporter.
While less known than another Palantir co-founder, the Trump supporting billionaire Peter Thiel,
Lonsdale has courted controversy.
He assailed Pete Boudette, judge for taking paternity leave.
Any man in an important position who takes six months of leave for a newborn is a loser
in the old days, men had babies and worked harder to provide for their future.
That's the correct masculine response.
The University of Austin will launch this summer, offering forbidden courses with provocative
questions that often lead to censorship.
Oh my God.
My grift ometer is going crazy, guys.
It's going crazy.
A group of public figures, many of whom are vocal critics of Higher Ed, are launching
a new university, reports Bloomberg.
The goal is to address a gaping chasm or chasm between the promise and reality of higher
education.
The board of Advisers includes Lonsdale, I've already mentioned that former Harvard University
president Larry Summers, former ACLU president Nadine Strossen, David Mamet, Neil Ferguson,
who's been a guest on this show.
I should mention Glenn Beck is really, really excited about this.
He read like a very strange, scripted thing on his show.
Check this out.
Speaker 4: We are challenging a jealous orthodoxy and expect to be scorned, mocked and viciously
attacked.
But with a healthy amount of courage, determination and yes, money, it can be done right.
And when we succeed and look back on this time, we will see that it is a small price
to pay for all that we have gained from the choice to be bold today, right?
Holy cow.
You know, we have been saying for a while.
That the university system will collapse on its own weight and that education is going
to have to change.
But it wasn't going to do it before America collapsed on her own weight without somebody
giving.
Speaker 1: I mean, the histrionics and hyperbole here is just something else,
Speaker 4: some sort of leadership.
And and another option.
I mean, really, you're down to Hillsdale.
As the only university you could go to this university led by these people.
It is remarkable, absolutely remarkable.
Speaker 1: So listen.
Mycroft ometer is going off the charts, it really is.
I do want to say there are people involved with this project that I don't think are bad
people.
I mean, for example, on the website, one of the founding faculty fellows is Peter Bogosian,
who's been on this show a number of times.
He, I think, respects me as a leftist who is willing to talk to people of different
views and, you know, whatever.
I think Peter Bergen is a good guy, and his intentions have always seemed on the up and
up to me, although sometimes I just don't disagree with his conclusions about the degree
to which this higher ed stuff is actually the problem that he claims it to be.
I have no problem with Peter Bogosian in principle.
And he's involved.
Tyler Cowen is an economist.
We've had on the show.
He's involved, he's listed on the website.
I think a lot of his economic instincts are excellent, and I know that he kind of I've
seen some shaky cultural stuff from Tyler Cowen, but for the most part, I like Tyler
Cowen, and I think his economic thinking is interesting.
Jonathan Hite, who's been a guest on this program and I think has great insight into
a number of different things.
Arthur Brooks is involved.
Arthur Brooks, a conservative, but the type of conservative that I really enjoy speaking
with, who's been a guest on this program, he's involved.
I had a very good conversation with Neil Ferguson.
OK, fine.
Why does it feel like a grift?
The drama around the what I believe is a false belief that academia at this point is just
worthless liberal trash, and that there needs to be something like this which again, not
accredited for now.
If that changes, we'll let you know.
Doesn't even offer degrees.
This just seems like something you can pay for to get classes that might not be that
different from the substance of these people that you can sign up for.
And so for now, calling this a university and saying it's in any way an alternative
to actual universities seems deceptive and like a complete and total grift.
That's my view as of today.
Bearing in mind that there are people involved with whom I don't have a problem.
All right.
And if they want to come and talk to me about it, I'm glad to have them on.
That's no problem at all.