UATX Statement about Robert Zimmer and Steven Pinker

The University of Austin is just one week old and has thus far succeeded in generating huge public interest. Yet, as is often the case with fast-moving start-ups, there were some missteps. In particular, our website initially failed to make clear the distinction between the Founding Trustees and the Advisory Board. Although we moved swiftly to correct this mistake, it conflated advisors, who were aligned in general with the project but not necessarily in agreement with all its actions and statements, and those who had originated the project and bear responsibility for those things. This led to unnecessary complications for several members of the advisory board, including Robert Zimmer and Steven Pinker, for which we are deeply sorry. We fully understand their decisions to step down as advisors.

The advisory board was never intended to be a corporate body that endorsed everything that UATX did or said. On the contrary, our goal in seeking advisors was precisely to have expert critics from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds, united only by a shared desire to help us create a new institution that would set an example of academic freedom in action. It was always our intention for this board to be a fluid and informal group.

The University of Austin (UATX) was honored to have Robert Zimmer as an advisor. We will continue to admire his leadership at the University of Chicago, and the “Chicago principles” he was so central in developing will remain one of UATX’s lodestars.

We were equally honored to have Steven Pinker as an advisor. He has helped us in many ways, from thinking more deeply about the place of science and critical thinking in higher education to improving our communications. We will continue to admire his contributions to academic and public life as a scholar and public intellectual.

We thank all of our advisors for their counsel to date, which has already helped us immensely as we lay the foundations of UATX. We look forward to sharing new developments soon, as we transition from planning to building.