Forbidden Knowledge

New summer course announcement: "Forbidden Hand Gestures." pic.twitter.com/Os9MStDdjD

— University of Austin Classics (UATX) (@uaustinclassics) November 9, 2021

I’m still not sure this isn’t a parody site. Except the Texas Tribune tells me Stephen Pinker is on the board of advisors. And this says he'll be teaching the class.

So maybe they just aren’t in on the joke.*

I'm kinda surprised they haven't offered Glenn Greenwald an adjunct position yet.

And because I can't seem to post comments again (Blogger hates me on a regular basis):

I would have thought those courses a joke had I not gotten wind of this project already. The place’s FAQ’s paint it as a place of radically free inquiry. The course descriptions belie it.

Waiting for “The Truth about Why Progressives Haven’t Stopped Beating their Wives.”

Can’t believe you passed over Stephen F. Austin State in Nacogdiches.

I thought it was a joke; but apparently these people are this clueless?  They brag they have "thousands" of professors seeking to flock to their light, which sounds pretty Trumpesque as they don't have a campus or even the money for more than a paltry faculty.  Texas Tribune reports they've raised $10 million already, but they need $250 million to really get rolling.  Oh, and they won't have all the "amenities" you and I missed out on; it's going to be a school like we attended, in other words.  A cafeteria, not restaurants or a food court on campus.  I presume no handball courts and climbing walls, etc.  You and I would recognize it as normal; students today will consider it primitive and stone age.  Which is not exactly a good marketing strategy.

And honestly, these course descriptions.

*I've looked again.  I'm quite sure this is a very well done parody twitter account.  For one thing, the tweets say they are preparing for summer 2022 classes.  The Tribune article says they won't be ready for undersgraduates until 2024.  Still, the whole thing strikes me as a supremely dumb idea.  What the world does not need is one more college.  OTOH, the statements from people associated with this "institution" are people mentioned in the Tribune article, and their quotes are real.  So in some sense this really is a joke they aren't in on.

Oh, well, it provides the world with another Twitter parody account.  I'm not sure we can have too many of those.  Not yet, anyway.