Religious rights scholar in running for UT Liberal Arts deanship
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Among the finalists for the deanship of the College of Liberal Arts (COLA) at the University of Texas is a religious rights scholar who's worked at the university's new conservative-minded institute, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The appointment could set the trajectory of one of the university's most prominent divisions.
Zoom in: Vincent Phillip Muñoz, a non-resident fellow at UT's Civitas Institute (formerly known as the Liberty Institute), is one of the five finalists for the COLA job, according to UT faculty members familiar with the job selection process. They asked for anonymity because they're not authorized to discuss personnel issues.
- Muñoz is also a professor at the University of Notre Dame and specializes in how the constitutional framers regarded religious liberty.
- He is the founding director of the Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government at the University of Notre Dame — which receives money from foundations and families interested in promoting free enterprise and individual liberty, including the Charles Koch Foundation and the Menard family.
- "Through cultivating research and teaching excellence on constitutionalism and Catholicism," Muñoz said at the center's 2021 launch, "we will equip and empower a new generation to secure our God-given natural rights and liberties, exercise responsible self-government, and pursue the common good."
Muñoz did not respond to an Axios interview request.
- Axios requested the names of the finalists under the Texas Public Information Act, but the university declined to provide them, citing the ongoing search.
By the numbers: COLA has nearly 800 faculty members spanning 25 departments, over 600 staff members, and more than 10,000 students.
- Two of the other candidates have served as chairs of university departments — including one at UT — and two have served as deans.
What's next: A new dean could be named soon, now that the university has named William Inboden as its new provost.
- Inboden did not respond to an Axios interview request about the deanship posting. Inboden could opt to name a dean outside the list of finalists.
- Meanwhile, the UT System Board of Regents this week is likely to name interim UT President Jim Davis, who previously worked as a deputy to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, to that position permanently.
The big picture: Amid pressure on universities from the Trump administration over concerns of a woke agenda, conservative scholarship has been in ascendance at the University of Texas.
- This spring, the Regents — appointees of Gov. Greg Abbott — announced they were investing $100 million to renovate an old biology building as the permanent home of the recently launched School of Civic Leadership.
- The school houses the Civitas Institute, championed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick as a way to bring "intellectual diversity" and teaching on limited government and free markets to campus.
The bottom line: In a press release, Inboden, a scholar of diplomatic history, described his aim as helping UT "serve as a national model for restoring public trust in higher education."