Reminds me of http://www.aduni.org/

There seems like there is a story why this only lasted a year, but I cannot glean it from the website. What's the deal?

The deal was that it was a part of ArsDigita Corp, and it died when the founders were sued. If you don't know about that, I suggest you read up on Philip Greenspun's take on things that took place in spring/summer 2001 (when AdUni's first and only class graduated):

http://waxy.org/random/arsdigita/

Sounds more like a hive

With the putrid prestige-farming removed.