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On May 12, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled "Help Wanted: Lefty College Seeks Right-Wing Prof." Chancellor G. P. Peterson of the University of Colorado Boulder is quoted as saying that over the next year he has a plan to raise $9 million to create an endowed conservative chair. The Journal refers to my analysis of vote registration: "The 800-strong faculty includes just 32 Republicans."
When a student at the university, M. S. Malouff, a Democrat, expressed strong reservations about the above proposal, Peterson responded: "Not to worry. (I am) not trying to change the essential nature of CU-Boulder." He added: "It's not imperative that the new professor of conservative thought be an actual conservative." How devious can one get?
For the current fiscal year, the University of Colorado at Boulder's budget is $423 million. If the administrators were serious about this plan, they could certainly find enough spare change to pay $200,000 to the proposed professor. Making this professorship contingent on raising $9 million from outside the university means that Peterson's plan is dead on arrival.
I published a series of articles on the political imbalance at the university, but I never used the word "conservative" because that term has lost its original meaning, just as "liberalism" has. Both are used as pejorative epithets. Modern "liberalism" has nothing to do with the original meaning of liberalism. Left wingers flatter themselves when they describe themselves as liberals. Modern "conservatism" is used by both friends and foes in a distorted manner.
Every semester CU-Boulder offers approximately 1,500 courses taught by approximately 750 professors. Between 18,000 and 20,000 students sign up for those courses. If Peterson were to add an "endowed chair in conservative thought," the occupant would teach a maximum of two courses per semester with an enrollment in each class not exceeding 25-30 students. How can this abortive idea change the political and ideological imbalance at the university? The idea of a conservative professorship is a deception to dissipate public concern about discrimination against Republicans at the university. I earnestly hope that no person in his right mind will contribute even a dollar to this endowed chair.
My main concern is that students in the Social Sciences and Humanities should be exposed to a pluralism of ideas. They should be able to listen to professors with different views of the social, economic and political problems that face our country and the world. The fundamental purpose of the university is to serve the students, not professors or administrators. There is intellectual poverty on campus when students are at the mercy of only one point of view repeated in class after class.
What is most shocking is that the Board of Regents, the university's governing body that is elected by the people, has been dominated by the Republicans for 30 years. Dr. Dale Atkins and Jerry Rutledge were exceptions. What a parasitic and sterile group of supposedly responsible people!
Today Republicans at the university are in almost the same position as black people were 50 years ago. At that time, there were only two black professors in Boulder -- Charles Nilon and Ernest Patterson. Both were intelligent and highly civilized. When Rosa Parks challenged the existing rules in Montgomery, Alabama, her courage inspired black people to demand their Constitutional rights. It was at that time that the president of the University of Colorado sent a memo to all departments in which he stated: "The next vacancy in your department must be filled by a black scholar or scientist." Period. There were no protests and nobody proposed asking the public to contribute funds for that noble cause. The present discrimination against Republicans cannot be resolved by any other method. That is what leadership means.
Edward Rozek is a University of Colorado professor emeritus.
Posted by darkcloud on June 26, 2008 at 8:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Liberalism and conservatism have indeed lost their original meanings. On the other hand, in this century or the two previous a "condescending twit" still correctly encapsulates the individual who feels need to describe announced black college professors as both "civilized" and "intelligent." Otherwise a bone through the nose while they taught Bathtub Bubbles 101 would so easily pop to mind.
And since you mention it, what sort of 'conservative thought' would the University teach? The traditional one or the new conservatism that isn't?
Race of the professor is irrelevant to the content of the course taught. And while there is wide disagreement over what is a conservative or liberal, there is somewhat less over who is, or is not, predominantly of a certain race. Whether they got an Angela Davis or a Clarence Thomas to teach depended on the decade.
And in true conservative thought, they acknowledge that progress is their enemy, because they are certainly not its fuel. Left to them, there would never have been an Angela Davis, and therefore no Clarence Thomas.
Posted by connie on June 26, 2008 at 9:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Professors at CU do not make $200K per year - if some conservative wants to be a professor, he should accept the same pay as any other professor with the same requirements. This is probably why there aren't many conservative professors - they do not have the proper academic requirements (a Phd) and are not willing to accept the standard salary for a professor.
Posted by zulu on June 26, 2008 at 9:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"Today Republicans at the university are in almost the same position as black people were 50 years ago."
This word "same" -- I do not think it means what you think it means.
Posted by lynn_segal_aka_lds on June 26, 2008 at 11:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Most of the faculty is "apparently" liberal, but then labels can be misleading as evidenced in the congressional hearings on FISA and torture today when someone described Alan Dershowitz as ultra-liberal. Not to worry, the moderator corrected him.
The university is too top heavy now with a conservative president, board of regents and now the chancellor wanting to spend our 9 million on a conservative. Not very representative.
Conservatives should use their own message of free markets applied here as any conservative can apply for faculty positions. They don't.
Unless you pay them enough as a department chair.
But then I suppose Bud would consider this as a draw for faculty of a particular persuasion. But that is a smokescreen, because conservatives won't accept the lousy pay. What Bud and Bruce are thinking is that it will be an endowment draw. This may backfire, because the majority of students aren't looking for stoggy endowed conservative department chairs and will take their money elsewhere.
Posted by buffs1995 on July 13, 2008 at 7:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
As a current K-12 teacher who often discusses current events with my students I know that it is entirely possible to keep ones own political views completely out of the classroom. As a CU grad with a PoliSci major it was a very rare occurrence to have a professor who did indeed share their political views with their students. As a matter of fact Professor Rozek was one of the few who did and who made his views clear with his very biased (in my opinion and that of many others) lectures and lessons.
I remember an amazing professor I had at CU, Dr. McGuire who commented that sharing ones political views with students was abusive as a teacher and even today as an alum he will not share his party affiliation with me. CU and the PoliSci department do an outstanding job of supporting critical thinking in the classroom without brainwashing students with a liberal philosophy.
Don't underestimate the caliber of students who attend CU; some of the best and brightest minds in Colorado and around the nation are in attendance and they would not easily subject themselves to liberal brainwashing.
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