The University of Austin exists for the fearless pursuit of truth, which means bringing civil discourse back to the forefront of the American university is of utmost importance to us. UATX has a number of initiatives to achieve this goal. The Austin Union is one such initiative.

The past decades have seen the emergence of a new culture, one that undermines meaning, morality, and truth’s existence. This new culture erodes the Western liberal values that bind our nation together. Radical individualism, the idea that one’s personal identity is unrestrained by nature or tradition, has replaced all other religious or philosophical considerations as the standard for judging personal and political activity. Without a shared outlook on the greatest questions, without a shared belief that the greatest questions are even worth asking, deliberation is impossible. Conversations become innately contentious, innately us versus them. Discourse is reduced from a shared pursuit of truth to a clash of unmoored opinions.