University of Colorado Seeks Appointment of Conservative Scholar

You've got to love this!

The University of Colorado, in the name of "academic diversity," is looking to appoint a right wing professor for an endowed chair of "Conservative Thought and Policy."

It turns out that Robert Kagan's in the running (see the graphic here), although I can't imagine his appointment would go over well at the university, formerly home to Ward Churchill:

How liberal is the University of Colorado at Boulder?

The campus hot-dog stand sells tofu wieners. A recent pro-marijuana rally drew a crowd of 10,000, roughly a third the size of the student body. And according to one professor's analysis of voter registration, the 800-strong faculty includes just 32 Republicans.

Chancellor G.P. "Bud" Peterson surveys this landscape with unease. A college that champions diversity, he believes, must think beyond courses in gay literature, Chicano studies and feminist theory. "We should also talk about intellectual diversity," he says. So over the next year, Mr. Peterson plans to raise $9 million to create an endowed chair for what is thought to be the nation's first Professor of Conservative Thought and Policy.

Mr. Peterson's quest has been greeted with protests from some faculty and students, who say the move is too -- well, radical. "Why set aside money specifically for a conservative?" asks Curtis Bell, a teaching assistant in political science. "I'd rather see a quality academic than someone paid to have a particular perspective."

Even some conservatives who have long pushed for balance in academia voice qualms. Among them is David Horowitz, a conservative agitator whose book "The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America" includes two Boulder faculty members: an associate professor of ethnic studies who writes about the intersection of Chicano and lesbian issues, and a philosophy professor focused on feminist politics and "global gender justice."

How about that political science undergrad, looking for a "quality academic"?

No doubt that would be someone like Boyce Watkins!

But hey, why would someone even take the job as the "token conserservative" on campus, becoming an oddity, in David Horowitz's words, like "an animal in the zoo"?

Despite left-wing protestations to the contrary, academe is populated primarily by professors on the left, even the far-left, of the spectrum.

Here's more from the article on that:

Boulder is far from the only campus to recognize a leftward tilt to the ivory tower. National surveys have repeatedly shown that liberals dominate faculties at most four-year colleges. And conservative activists have grown more aggressive in demanding balance. A group called the Leadership Institute now sends field workers to scores of campuses each fall to train right-wing students to speak up. College administrators are beginning to respond.

Note that top prospects for the position include, besides Kagan, William Kristol, Condoleeza Rice, and George Will.

Hopefully the endowment comes with personal security services for the new appointee!

The appointment of one of the biggest "war-loving" neocon Iraq cheerleaders or the former national security advisor from the evil Bush/Cheney regime isn't going to be welcomed too quickly around the CU college green!