(Texas Scorecard) – The University of Texas at Austin is preparing to host a teaching seminar that will train faculty members to instruct students on the horrors of communism.
UT-Austin’s School for Civic Leadership partnered with the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation to host “Teaching the Twentieth Century: Communism and Dissent.” The event is scheduled for October 16 through October 18.
Attendees will participate in four sample class sessions from a senior professor. They will also attend four sessions on potential syllabi and pedagogy.
Examples of sessions include a discussion of communism and literature with Gary Saul Morson of Northwestern University, who has taught on Russian literature and intellectual history. The Claremont Institute’s Daniel J. Mahoney, who has defended “conservative-minded liberalism informed by classical and Christian wisdom,” will examine communism and revolution.
Historian Sean McMeekin, who has argued against whitewashing communist history, will deliver the keynote address.
Scott Yenor, a Heritage Foundation scholar who has previously criticized UT-Austin, told Texas Scorecard that the conference looks “great” and “inspired.”
Yenor called the speakers “some of the heaviest hitters among conservative intellectuals” and welcomed it as a counterbalance to “the woke garbage that usually spews from the [s]chools of education.”
The seminar is open to faculty members at “4-year or higher institutions.” To participate, faculty members must commit to teach a course on this subject within three semesters and “acquire express and written approval from their department chair or dean” that they will be allowed to teach the course within that timeframe.
Participants receive a $2000 stipend, paid out in two $1000 tranches.
“The School of Civic Leadership looks forward to partnering with the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation to host a faculty conference on teaching the horrific legacies of 20th century communism from a variety of disciplinary perspectives,” a representative from UT-Austin told Texas Scorecard.
UT-Austin’s School for Civic Leadership is an emerging effort to promote classical education.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick first proposed it in 2021 and included seed funding in the state budget. From the beginning, it engendered significant pushback from the left and the education establishment.
Opened in 2023, the institute has hosted events focusing on topics such as restoring the family unit, economic dynamism, freedom and virtue, the American founding, and the history of Western Civilization.
UT-Austin announced a $100 million commitment to the Civic Leadership School last May.
The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation is a non-profit educational organization. Its mission is to “educate future generations about the ideology, history, and legacy of communism and to advocate for the freedom of those still held captive by communist regimes.”