After creating the worst self-driving car and the crappiest truck, tanking Twitter, ruining his public reputation, and turning his own AI against him, Elon Musk has found an entirely new industry to ruin: higher education.
News broke in December 2023 about Musk’s plans to launch an official Elon Musk university. Interested to learn what Twitter’s worst leader is up to this time? Here’s everything you need to know about the presumably cursed institution.
What’s going on with Elon Musk’s university?
On Dec. 13, Bloomberg reported that Musk is opening an Austin-based university. The program has apparently been in the works for quite some time, with an application sent over to the IRS back in October 2022.
The school is connected to Musk’s own charity venture, called The Foundation. The Foundation will initially offer “an independent primary and secondary school in Austin, Texas focused on teaching in STEM subjects and other topics,” with “the presentation of formal instruction and curriculum by a regular faculty to a regularly enrolled student body” in the Austin area, per the IRS filing.
Don’t expect the university to spring up overnight. This initial school will admit around 50 students to start, but will scale over time. Eventually, the application stated, The Foundation will “expand its operations to create a university dedicated to education at the highest levels,” including studies in physics, engineering, and other ventures.
“The School intends to seek accreditation of the university by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC),” The Foundation said in its filing to the IRS. “All of the School’s time will initially be allocated to launching a primary and secondary school. Once this school is successfully operating, a portion of the School’s time will be allocated to creation of the university and other related charitable activities.”
The school received approximately $100 million gifted from Musk himself, Bloomberg reported.
Is this like Bari Weiss’ university all over again?
In late 2021, former New York Times contributor Bari Weiss and a number of other right-wing figures launched the “University of Austin,” touting itself as an alternative to “censorship” and “self-censorship” in academia. The clear implication was that the unaccredited program was more interested in pushing a right-leaning political agenda to students than providing a well-rounded education.
As of now, we don’t know if The Foundation will engage in conservative bias in its hiring processes and teaching material, but given Musk’s embrace of the right-wing internet sphere and his claims that universities are to blame for spreading the “woke mind virus,”—to the extent that he blames liberal schooling for turning his own daughter against him—it’s not unreasonable to assume that’s his plan.
The Foundation’s emphasis on STEM-oriented learning is also a potential indication of Musk’s agenda, given that the conservative education world is always keen to frame liberal arts as a blight on the academic landscape compared to STEM. Time will tell if Musk aims to bring on a politically diverse staff, or if he has similar plans to push a specific worldview among students.
Musk has not addressed his plans for The Foundation, its university, or even its primary and secondary-school ventures on Twitter yet. Granted, it’s likely he’ll brag about the university once he’s ready to announce it. If he’s ever to announce it. Setting up a higher education venture is easier said than done, and it’s totally plausible that The Foundation never gets off the ground.
(featured image: Chesnot/Getty Images)
