The UT System Board of Regents pledged a “transformative” $100 million investment to the School of Civic Leadership, Board Chairman Kevin Eltife announced Thursday during a press conference.
The investment will go towards renovating UT’s Biological Laboratories building into the new home for the School of Civic Leadership, Eltife said, with the renovation expected to be completed by 2028.
“This investment reflects the board’s strong commitment to the School of Civic Leadership and its role in preparing future leaders who are grounded in our founding ideals,” Eltife said during the press conference. “Our board is grateful for the full support of our governor, lieutenant governor and speaker (of the state House).”
The UT System Board of Regents founded the School of Civic Leadership in 2023 and launched the school’s first academic courses through its philosophy, politics and economics minor in August 2024. However, the school’s inception garnered controversy among students and faculty due to its formation from the Civitas Institute, which is funded by conservative donors and state legislators.
Justin Dyer, dean of the School of Civic Leadership, spoke about the Civitas Institute’s formation at the event and its aid from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Dyer said he and the University are working on growing and building the school.
“Together, we’re moving forward and we are building,” Dyer said. “We are busy hiring faculty, designing courses, building new degree programs, admitting students into those degree programs, welcoming them to campus and growing the Civitas Institute.”
The school will begin its first cohort of 100 freshmen in its Civics Honors major next fall, according to a University news release. Gov. Greg Abbott, who spoke at the conference, said these students and the UT System’s investment will help restore principles from classic education and civics, from which he said universities have taken a “dramatic departure.”
“We need to get back on the pathway of ensuring that we’re educating our students with the leading concepts that have led to this great country we all know,” Abbott said. “If you think about just this one (subject), then of all the different subjects taught here and in every university, there’s really only one that matters the most, and that is making sure that our students know exactly why and how 13 colonies were able to combine, and then take that combination and turn it into the most powerful and prosperous country ever in the history of the world.”
The lieutenant governor, who was the final speaker at the event, also emphasized the importance of the investment and the School of Civic Leadership, citing the school’s investment increase from an initial $6 million to the current $100 million.
“The state of Texas needs a vibrant and strong University of Texas,” Patrick said. “If you are not strong, if you are not vibrant, if you are not looking at the past to teach our students where we came from and how we got here, as the governor said, then they won’t know where they’re going.”
