“We are done waiting. We are done waiting for the legacy universities to right themselves. And so we are building anew,” Kanelos wrote. “I mean that quite literally. As I write this, I am sitting in my new office (boxes still waiting to be unpacked) in balmy Austin, Texas, where I moved three months ago from my previous post as president of St. John’s College in Annapolis.”

Many people said it was impossible. But yesterday, less than three years after that original essay, the University of Austin opened its doors to the class of 2028. 

I cannot claim objectivity on this subject: I have been part of UATX, along with Kanelos, Joe Lonsdale, and Free Press columnist Niall Ferguson, since its inception. (This is the talk I gave at the inaugural summer school.) I am so proud of what the school is—and more, what it aspires to become. I think you’ll understand why when you read Pano Kanelos’s convocation address to the founding class, published just below.