I was thinking the same thing. My daughter is a top highschool student looking for a good college to attend. Got MIT, Princeton and Cal Tech on the list. She's interested in physics, and has very good math scores.
I suggested that she consider UT, but now I'm wishing I had not. Not just because of this, but because of a whole range of things that have been going on there that make me wonder which planet these guys are from.
While we're blasting the Longhorns, remember that Walt Rostow, he of the famous LBJ Vietnam bombing campaign, was a prof at UT.
Texas A&M. Fine science institution (as good as or better than t.u.). MUCH better student body that truly is diverse in the real meaning of the word.
I'd send her to a small school, even MIT is really too big, for undergraduate work, by then she'll hopefully be mature enough to ingore the crud and take in the good at UT, MIT, Cal Tech, etc.
I wouldn't send a dog to UT as an undergrad, but my older daughter got her JD there and younger one is going for her PhD there starting in the fall. Both went to a small, but highly though of, college in far north Texas as undergrads. I'll give you the name if you'd like, just FReep mail me. (Even though my wife is a department chair there, I don't get a commission. :) )
UT is very liberal, Austin in general is very liberal. Try University of Denver, were Condi Rice went.