THE TEXAS TRIBUNE – Professors meant to help establish a UT-Austin think tank focusing on limited government, free markets and more claim university leadership are not following original plans for the project, The Texas Tribune reported.
Professors Richard Lowery and Carlos Carvalho, who were involved with what they call the Liberty Institute, place a large amount of the blame on UT-Austin president Jay Hartzell and the deputy to the president for academic strategies, Richard Flores.
“The President of UT, in coordination with one of his chief deputies, Richard Flores, chose to completely default on the plan agreed to for bringing needed intellectual diversity to campus and to push back against the persistent attacks on free inquiry and academic freedom at UT-Austin,” Lowery told the Tribune in an emailed statement.
The state budget allowed UT-Austin $6 million for the think tank six months ago, according to the Tribune. The Tribune also reported last August that conservative donors and leaders such as Bob Rowling, Bud Brigham and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick were backing the project, which led to some unease among the campus community.
A proposal for the center, which the Tribune acquired from Patrick's office, said a board of overseers would create a board of scholars to manage hiring. The subject of hiring became a point of contention, as Patrick claimed earlier this year that UT-Austin wanted to be in charge of recruitment. Carvalho said he took issue with how the university was going about hiring an executive director, according to the Tribune.
UT-Austin did not respond to requests or questions from the Texas Tribune.
Disclosure: Robert Rowling and University of Texas at Austin have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This story originally appeared in The Texas Tribune.
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