A group of intellectuals who have faced hostility for expressing their ideas are building their own institution of higher education in Austin, Texas, saying that they can no longer wait for the legacy universities to address the pervasive intolerance on campuses. “We are done waiting for the legacy universities to right themselves. And so we are building anew,” wrote Pano Kanelos in a newsletter announcing the establishment of the University of Austin (UATX). Kanelos, the former president of St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, will serve as the founding president of the new school. The goal of this educational initiative is to build a university “dedicated to the fearless pursuit of truth,” a promise Kanelos said appears in mottos of many prestigious institutions but is hardly honored in practice. “There is a gaping chasm between the promise and the reality of higher education,” Kanelos wrote, pointing to recent incidents in …