Even More Pity For Oppressed CU Conservatives

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by: Colorado Pols

CU Regent Jim Geddes (R) wants to rescue oppressed conservatives on campus.

As the Boulder Daily Camera's Brittany Anas reports–didn't the "conservative affirmative action" professorship do enough to make the University of Colorado a safe zone for academically oppressed students of a rightward persuasion? Apparently not:

The University of Colorado Board of Regents later this month will decide whether to expand the school's nondiscrimination policy to include political affiliation — a proposal born out of some regents' concern that there's a pervasive liberal bias, especially on the Boulder campus.

A subcommittee of regents on the laws and policies committee on Tuesday gave approval to the resolution that will go before the full board at its meeting Sept. 16-17 in Boulder.

A few months ago, we noted the University of Colorado's selection of a new "visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy," Dr. Steven Hayward, formerly of the American Enterprise Institute and Ohio's Ashland University. Notwithstanding the amusement of this act of "conservative affirmative action," Dr. Hayward actually does bring significant academic qualifications to the job. We haven't heard anything to suggest that Dr. Hayward is a regrettable choice of a scholar, however one might feel about the underlying "concerns" of Republican CU Regents and CU President Bruce Benson regarding oppression of conservatives on campus.

But apparently "conservative affirmative action" is not enough. Now it's time for political affiliation to be enshrined with race and gender as a protected minority!

Now folks, if we really believed that there was any sort of legitimate discrimination on campus against College Republicans–or for that matter, the Green Party, Libertarians, or LaRouchies–we would be the first to call for a remedy. What we think is going on here has more to do with certain students, perhaps trending conservative but whatever their particular worldview, running up against something we call "reality." This might feel a little like discrimination at first, but in our experience what higher education "discriminates" against more than anything is…well, you know, ignorance.

Hopefully we got our point across here without hurting anyone's feelings.

12 thoughts on “Even More Pity For Oppressed CU Conservatives”

dwyer says:

September 4, 2013 at 11:17 am

It is critically important that such policies cover, not just A&S at CU, but also and most importantly, the College of Business, the Law School; the School of Engineering; and, the School of Public Affairs. My guess is that the Regents are not prepared to do that.

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Phoenix Rising says:

September 4, 2013 at 11:34 am

What exactly is "political nondiscrimination"? Does that mean CU strive to include neo-Nazis in their staff? Or is it simply that they'll add intelligent design to the biology curriculum…

It's so amusing to see conservatives trying to be "PC".

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Phoenix Rising says:

September 4, 2013 at 11:44 am

I guess maybe I wasn't done ranting…

If there was discrimination against Republicans because they were Republican, I'd be all for this. But let's face it: the reason Republicans aren't well represented in certain departments has more to do with their lack of academic rigor and their support of discredited theories and alternate histories than anything else. I wouldn't let a single one of the ones in Congress with a PhD loose in the classroom without carefully picking the curriculum they could teach. Could you imagine "foetuses masturbate" Congressman Michael Burgess, OB-GYN, being allowed near a medical university? Ugh.

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OrangeFree says:

September 4, 2013 at 11:47 am

I had a professor up at CSU, one of my favs. If you sat in his class, you would have sworn he was a dyed in the wool Conservative, war hawk, always battled with the liberal students in class over positions. On the last day of class, he talked about how he was actually a Liberal Democrat.

The point is CU needs to find conservative professors who don't see academia as an afront to American values. People with less of a chip on their shoulder that they're "behind enemy lines" when they teach at a university.

Less Sean Hannity, more William F. Buckley, Jr.

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1. Moderatus says:
  
  September 4, 2013 at 1:44 pm
  
  Yeah, because Ward Churchill totally didn't have a "chip on his shoulder."
  
  Sorry, that was too easy.
  
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  1. OrangeFree says:
    
    September 4, 2013 at 2:59 pm
    
    Is Ward Churchill a teacher at the school anymore?
    
    Yeah, thought not. Keep grasping at those straws.
    
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    1. Moderatus says:
      
      September 4, 2013 at 3:05 pm
      
      He's a fine example of liberal academic scholarship. 🙂
      
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      1. OrangeFree says:
        
        September 4, 2013 at 3:56 pm
        
        Who was, once again, fired from his position
        
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        DavidThi808 says:
        
        September 4, 2013 at 8:37 pm
        
        Ward Churchill is a fair counterpoint. The only reason his piss-poor scholarship was investigated was because of the hateful words he wrote.
        
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        Phoenix Rising says:
        
        September 4, 2013 at 9:39 pm
        
        So how does that fit in vs. anti-Republican bias?
        
        IIRC he was there as a professor of "Native" studies. How he got in on that position I don't know, but I doubt it was anti-Republican bias or anti-conservative bias.
        
        And wasn't it largely conservative complaints that got him in to hot water in the first place?
        
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DaftPunk says:

September 4, 2013 at 12:47 pm

If all the agencies of the state must seek political balance, let's start with COGA.

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WildSweetnCool says:

September 4, 2013 at 8:55 pm

funny, they've never care about oppression before….

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