UT Austin invests $100M in permanent home for School of Civic Leadership

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The inaugural class of 100 Civics Honors freshman starting at the University of Texas at Austin this fall should have a full-time home by the time they're seniors. On Thursday, the Board of Regents announced a $100 million investment to renovate the school's Biological Laboratories building to host the upstart School of Civic Leadership.

"We have needed a place where civic education is focused on the foundational principles of our constitutional democracy," Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife said. "The School of Civic Leadership at UT Austin is that place, and today we are giving it a permanent home."

The School of Civic Leadership was founded in 2023 as the newest of UT Austin's 19 schools and colleges "to equip the next generation of leaders with the philosophical, economic and historical understanding needed to preserve constitutional democracy." Currently the school is housed in UT's Littlefield House.

"This is a bold investment that empowers the School of Civic Leadership to fulfill its mission to prepare leaders committed to the principles of freedom, self-government and civic responsibility," School of Civic Leadership Dean Justin Dyer said.

During Thursday's event, Dyer and Eltife were joined by Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and UT Austin's Interim President Jim Davis.

"With regards to classic education -- classic civics to say the least -- there's been a dramatic departure from those principle and precepts over the past one to two decades," Abbott said. "That's been to the detriment of this university, our state and our country. 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."

"I believe students will flock to this," Patrick said. "You'll have to build a second building, a third building and a fourth building because I think there's a real thirst by young people."

The renovations are expected to be completed in 2028. Existing programs within the Biological Laboratories building will be moved to more modernized lab facilities on campus.