The University of Austin, a new academic institution created by a group of donors and intellectuals unhappy about the increasingly left-wing tilt of Anglophone academia, was unveiled last week. Many faculty at existing universities, including several who are not especially left wing, were unimpressed.
This is hardly surprising, and not just for political reasons. Incumbents do not generally welcome new entrants to a market. And the core challenge facing U.S. colleges and universities is economic: An increasingly robust labor market is now competing with them for a dwindling number of young people.
College enrollment fell 3.2% this year after a 3.4% decline last year. Some of that is about the pandemic, with some potential students turned off by the risks of university life and others unwilling to abide by the health regulations that many schools are imposing on their students. But enrollment has been falling, albeit more gradually, since as far back as 2012.