Liberal University of Colorado seeks Conservative Professor
May 15, 2008 – 9:25 am by Nick
A pro-marijuana rally attracted roughly 10,000 students on the University of Colorado campus. A video of the festivities was featured on the Drudge Report.
The faculty, parents and donors were appalled to see a third of the student body partaking in illegal activities on campus. The Wall Street Journal linked the rally to the rampant “liberal” bias of the CU faculty. The article stated that the 800-strong faculty includes only 32 Republicans.
The chancellor G.P. “Bud” Peterson, a Republican, was troubled by the universities lack of conservatives. Peterson believes the intellectual diversity of the college is not confined to gay literature, feminist theory and Chicano studies. He plans to raise $9 million to create the nation’s first Professor of Conservative Thought and Policy. The chair will be filled by a big name conservative.
The notion of a conservative chair at the University of Colorado has been kicked around for a decade. The college has been the center of many controversies the latest being the pot festival. In 2005, Ward Churcill, an ethnic-studies professor, presented an essay stating that bankers killed in the Twin Towers attacks were “little Eichmanns,” who “formed a technocratic corps at the very heart of America’s global financial empire.” In a move to appease donors, the University of Colorado fired Churchill last summer, and proceeded with their plan to hire a conservative chair.
The decision set off a fiery debate among faculty members. They protested the idea of paying a person to have particular perspective. Furthermore, it seems donors are the invisible hand which will influence the university’s final decision.
The Internet forums are full of anonymous commentators stuffing students, faculty and the country into one of two pigeon holes. Most comments devolve into stereotypical arguments that do not explain the large amount of independent voters. The professors should open up all avenues of communication in their classes, when polarizing subjects surface in lectures. A single conservative chair will never bring diversity to the classroom.
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