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UT System announces $100 million investment into civic leadership school

The money will help pay for a permanent home for the school on UT-Austin's campus. Conservative donors and lawmakers, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, helped create the school in 2023.

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From left: Interim President Jim Davis, Gov. Greg Abbott, UT System Chairman Kevin Eltife, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and UT Dean of the School of Civic Leadership Justin Dyer sit during a press conference in the Life Sciences Library at the University of Texas campus on Thursday, May 8, 2025. They spoke on a new $100 million investment the state would make in UT’s new School of Civic Leadership.
Jim Davis, University of Texas at Austin interim president, Gov. Greg Abbott, UT System Chairman Kevin Eltife, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and Justin Dyer, the dean of UT's School of Civic Leadership, gathered Thursday at the UT-Austin campus for the announcement that $100 million is being invested into the civic leadership school. Credit: Lorianne Willett/The Texas Tribune

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The University of Texas System announced on Thursday a $100 million investment for a permanent building for its School of Civic Leadership, a college created to house programs to help teach “principles of freedom.”

The nine-figure investment will go toward the renovation of the Biological Laboratories building on the University of Texas at Austin campus into a space for the new school. The school welcomes its inaugural class in the fall. Construction on the school is expected to be completed by 2028, according to a UT news release.

Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov Dan Patrick and several UT officials gathered at UT Austin to celebrate the announced funding for the school. In a news release, Abbott said the $100 million investment will “restore classical civics and leadership education” at UT.

“We need to get back on the pathway of ensuring that we’re educating our students with the leading concepts that have led to the great country we are today,” Abbott said.

The school, which was established in 2023, and the think tank Civitas Institute, which it houses, were developed by UT officials alongside conservative lawmakers and donors including Patrick. In 2021, Patrick and conservative donors assisted in the creation of Civitas’ predecessor, the Liberty Institute, which sparked faculty concerns on the college’s purpose.

Programs at the school like its Society of Fellows were made to “foster a thoughtful admiration for Western Civilization, constitutional government, and economic liberty,” according to its website.

UT’s investment in the school, once framed by Patrick as a way to fight critical race theory in colleges, comes as state legislators are considering a bill that would limit how universities can teach about race, history and inequality. While Senate Bill 37 passed in the Senate, a House committee proposed changes to the legislation that would roll back many of its stricter provisions.

The school’s inaugural freshman class will have 100 students, and the UT System said they are “on track” to hire 20 dedicated tenured or tenure-track professors for the school by Fall 2026.

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