Beyond 'Anti-Woke'

Speaking honestly is what UATX stands for.

Morgan Marietta is Dean of Economics, Politics, and History at the Universtiy of Austin.

“Anti-woke” is a poor term. Perhaps because “woke” is as well. Both are often used to hide more than they reveal, misrepresenting rather than communicating honestly—the true mission of a university.

UATX was founded to promote certain ideals, and surely to oppose some negative trends, but “anti-woke” does not do it justice (social, linguistic, or otherwise). 

When critics use “anti-woke” as a shorthand, they know that this overly fraught term is implying things not openly said. 

To readers on the political left, “anti-woke” implies we are criticizing everyone left of center, any ideas more recent than antiquity, and anything outside of small-town America. It also implies that because we are “just” anti-woke, we are taking an equally extreme or intolerant position on the right, which is nonsense standing on cardboard.

UATX stands for open inquiry and the liberty to question authority. As James Madison’s personal motto phrases it, Veritas, non verba magistri (truth, not the word of the teacher). In other words, don’t accept conventional wisdom or the preaching of those in authority; question, argue, demand evidence, interrogate the certain. All who are willing to engage in conversation are welcome at UATX. 

Are we anti-anything? Yes. Anti-coercion. Anti-authoritarian. Anti-conformity. Anti-group think. Anti-cowardice. Opposed to having to pause to wonder if your social standing will go down if you ask the question on your mind. 

“Anti-woke” is too vague to mean much. At UATX I encourage students to express what they actually mean rather than hide behind a slippery phrase. Invoking woke is similar to saying “you know?” in order to gain false nodding when the listener doesn’t in fact know what you mean and neither do you.

Is wokeness simply awareness of racial discrimination? Then we are definitely not anti-woke. Is wokeness the same as traditional liberalism asserting that the poor, the weak, or the elderly deserve more aid in a free market? If so, anti-woke is clearly not accurate. 

Is wokeness the absolutist belief that assertions about social justice, the roots of oppression, or the moral hierarchy of oppressed groups should not be questioned? Then I am anti-that because nothing is beyond question and debate. Is wokeness the illiberal belief that freedom of inquiry should be curtailed if it offends an oppressed group? Or that shouting down a speaker on campus is an ethical act because the person’s ideas are upsetting to some students? I am anti-that as well. Coercion of thought and the disruption of civil discourse on campus are some of the specific evils UATX was founded to oppose.

If you say exactly what you mean by wokeness, or social justice, or populism, or another over-burdened and under-defined term, then I can say whether I am anti or pro. Honest argument begets open communication (and social progress). The intentional use of double-representation, the purposeful invocation of misleading shorthand, or the veiled jibes of the too-clever-by-half serve no one but those who profit from our divisions. 

One could describe UATX as “housed in a former department store” or alternatively “in a historic art deco building once the first ‘skyscraper’ in downtown Austin.” Both descriptions are technically accurate and not a lie, but the implication and intent of each is different. “Anti-woke” university and “former department store” don’t tell you much about what each looks like today or how they function in the current world. “Open inquiry university” is another descriptor. If some in American academics oppose academic liberty, or civil discourse, or students speaking their minds without fear, we should ask if they are anti-open inquiry, and why that would be.

Veritas is a common sentiment in university mottos: Harvard, Howard, Yale, etc. (even Marietta College, no relation). It means seeking the truth, but also speaking it. Honesty in word choice is a virtue (Veritas et virtus, as they say at Pitt).   

UATX does stand for things and against other things. Honest discussion without codewords reveals much more than debating whether we are an “anti-woke” university and Harvard is a “woke” one. Neither descriptor should be true.

Morgan Marietta is Dean of the Center for Economics, Politics & History at the University of Austin.