When Pano Kanelos announced his plans to launch UATX, which is building a new university in the Austin area, he wrote of “the chasm between the promise and reality of higher education.” Rather than devote themselves to the pursuit of truth, and the protection of intellectual dissent it requires, he argued, many of America’s most prestigious schools instead serve as “finishing schools for the national and global elite.” Can a new university, one committed to open inquiry, civil discourse, and the search for enduring truths, help renew the promise of higher education?

Please join us for a conversation between Reihan Salam, president of the Manhattan Institute, and Pano Kanelos, president of UATX, about the state of higher education and the urgent importance of building anew.