As the Boulder Daily Camera's Brittany Anas reports, the recent appointment of the University of Colorado's new "visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy," Dr. Steven Hayward, still hasn't satisfied Republican members of the Board of Regents–who are again calling for more "affirmative action" by university departments to attract more conservative faculty.

"Like it or not, the University of Colorado — particularly the Boulder campus — has a reputation for being a liberal campus," said CU Regent Jim Geddes, R-Sedalia, during the regents' monthly board meeting. "It is true that so-called conservative scholars are just not welcome at the University of Colorado. That's a problem."

…[CU student government vice president Tyler] Quick, during the regents' discussion, told the board, "I would challenge the assumption that all Boulder faculty are somehow commies." That statement drew criticism from Regent Sue Sharkey, R-Windsor, who responded: "I didn't find the humor. It diminishes the case we're trying to make."

…Regent Steve Bosley, R-Broomfield, prefaced his comments by saying that he isn't referring to political diversity amongst the faculty, but, rather, philosophical balance. He said if the majority of faculty in a program hold the same view on a topic, the university should seek to have representatives of the opposing viewpoint. [Pols emphasis]

Regent Steve Bosley's "recommendation" perfectly identifies the problem with the effort to artificially increase the number of conservative faculty at the University of Colorado. If a majority of faculty in a program "hold the same view on a topic," is that in itself proof of a lack of "opposing viewpoints"–or is it that the "opposing viewpoints" cannot withstand academic rigor? Also, have they looked at the business department? This seems to be more about GOP problems with certain humanities (say, history) than it is about the CU faculty as a whole. 

(more…)

Full story: GOP CU Regents: More “Conservative Scholars” Needed

AP via the Washington Post reports today:

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from former University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill in his effort to reclaim his job.

The justices did not comment Monday in refusing to review a Colorado Supreme Court ruling in favor of the university.

Churchill faced condemnation and calls for his dismissal over an essay describing some victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as “little Eichmanns,” a reference to Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi leader who helped orchestrate the Holocaust.

Thus ends the long battle over former tenured University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill, an academic for whom a qualified defense of free speech rights was initially very much justified–but who was ultimately rendered indefensible by genuine instances of academic dishonesty uncovered during the investigations of his scholarship that ensued after his "Little Eichmanns" essay became controversial.

Former GOP Gov. Bill Owens actually testified that he was "glad" the University of Colorado "chose to ignore" his advice in 2005 that Churchill be fired solely for his essay disparaging victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Had the university done so as Owens asked, they might have made a millionaire out of Churchill instead of the pariah he has turned out to be. At best, the microscope Churchill was held up to after his essay was publicized, and the real academic dishonesty that was at length uncovered, can be summed up in the old adage, "sometimes a witch-hunt actually finds a witch"–not exactly a proud moment in Colorado civic life. As much as there is nothing for Churchill to be proud of today, we see little his detractors should celebrate either.

Full story: End of the Line for Ward Churchill

We would be remiss if we didn't circle back to a story we've discussed a few times, the search by the University of Colorado, headed by ex-GOP kingpin and gubernatorial candidate Bruce Benson, for a "visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy." We haven't, as our readers know, had much good to say about this act of "conservative affirmative action," which could also be considered an attempt to shoehorn ideology into our state's flagship campus that just hasn't demonstrated the intellectual rigor to be there.

But as the Boulder Daily Camera reports and we must concede, they've actually found an intriguing candidate.

Steven Hayward, a "green conservative," will be the University of Colorado's first visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy.

Hayward was one of three finalists for the position. On Wednesday, CU announced his appointment, which will begin in the fall.

In an interview, Hayward said he'd like to teach a course on "free market environmentalism." He'll also teach political science courses on constitutional law and American political thought. Hayward said he would like to co-teach a lecture with a professor who has liberal leanings.

Dr. Steven Hayward is a former F. K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow at the arch-conservative American Enterprise Institute, and a distinguished fellow at Ashbrook Center at Ashland University in Ohio. Discussions with people who know this man don't tell us that liberals will agree with him, but he is an intellectually capable and honest thinker who really might enrich students' education. We found a very interesting talk from Dr. Hayward on the AEI's website, titled "How to think seriously about the planet: The case for an environmental conservatism." You may not agree with all of it, but it's definitely worth watching:

As we've said, the privately-funded "visiting professor in conservative thought" seems to be a hypocritical response to the frequent charge of ideological bias leveled against higher education by the right–that, or at the very least, an admission something as antithetical to modern conservatism as affirmative action may sometimes have a role.

In this case, our disapproval may be complicated by the fact that they recruited an actual worthy scholar.

Full story: “Conservative Affirmative Action” Pick…Actually Pretty Smart?