© iStock, The University of AustinThe University of Austin offers a free speech alternative to more progressive universities.
Merit, excellence and intelligence (MEI) is an alternative approach to the admissions processAt this Texas university, getting accepted is "mind" over matter.
The University of Austin (UATX) - founded on free speech principles to push back against "woke" ideology - is shunning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies for what some call MEI -
merit, excellence and intelligence, and it's just another way the school is shaking up higher education.
"We don't take any of that into consideration in admissions," Pano Kanelos, president of the university,
told CBS News of race, ethnicity and gender. "The primary thing that we're interested in is the mind."
Merit, excellence and intelligence (MEI) centers on qualifications and abilities, particularly emphasizing the "capacity to think deeply," according to Kanelos.
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