Posted on 05/13/2008 5:41:58 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Help Wanted: Lefty College Seeks Right-Wing Prof CU-Boulder Bid to Endow A 'Conservative' Chair Leaves Both Sides Uneasy By STEPHANIE SIMON May 13, 2008; Page A1
BOULDER, Colo. -- 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."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
That's enough for me - take the public money away
I volunteer.
First, they have to find someone who wants to actually live there in liberal Lamebrainia.....
*checks date to see if it's April 1st*
*checks source to see if it's really The Onion*
LOL, when they hire the Conservative Prof they will point to him proudly at every turn.
They will have their “token”
>> First, they have to find someone who wants to actually live there in liberal Lamebrainia.....
If they were actually PAYING me to be conservative, I’d live in the People’s Republic of Boulder. Politics aside, it’s a nice place, though the Californicators have made it expensive. So they’d have to pay me a LOT.
Very Interesting! Academics pushing for Affirmative Action are always pushing it as an answer to a need for Diversity! on campus. You know, the old..."to fully develop students" argument. Once you've made that "diversity" argument, how do you oppose "diversity" of this type?
The academic ghetto.
“... liberal Lamebrainia.”
Love it.
I’d love to see what this college’s idea of a conservative. They’d probably bring in Lincoln Chaffe.
If he could still do his radio show, Mark Levine would be perfect.
Yup, and it sounds like you have to like tofu. That will cut a whole lot of conservatives out of the loop. Altho there is a steak place on the way out of town.
Funniest statement of the year!!!
His assumption is that the normal “perspective” is hard left.
And anyone who doesn't have that belief is “biased”.
Diversity means that everyone is leftist; and if not you will be fired.
There are hundreds of people who have denied tenure in past few years; just because they didn't fully drink the leftist Koolaid?!?!
Fully qualified people, but they refused to adopt some leftist belief somewhere in their career.
Why do I get the feeling that he would have been put on academic probation if he had dared asked that question about any other professorship reserved for a specific racial/ethnic/sexual minority?
This is a silly idea, not because of Horowitz’s suggestion that it would be a token, but because it doesn’t address the real problem.
Horowitz’s actual program is better - work through the students.
The general distaste for useless fields like gender studies, and those that have become useless in the social sciences and arts, are also strong market factors. The reason these market factors have been of limited use so far is because higher education has been insulated from the market, allowing absurdities to develop. The bubble will burst though.
>> Yup, and it sounds like you have to like tofu.
Nah... There’s tons of great restaurants in Boulder, and nearby. And most of them serve real live MEAT. (Well, OK, not live.)
By the way, the “Alferd Packer” student grill on the CU campus is named after a famous Colorado cannibal. To the best of my knowledge though, they don’t take the term “student grill” literally. :-)
What, no dancing fish at Sushi Zanmei?
According to leftists, the more leftist studies and groups involved, the more “diverse” they are.
...Like some lefty describing a school having 90% hispanic students as being “very diverse”....
I wonder if Professor Limbaugh at the Institute for Conservative Studies would be interested in submitting his resume.
>> What, no dancing fish at Sushi Zanmei?
My favorite two in Boulder are Greenbriar Inn (just out of town, on the road towards Lyons), and the Flagstaff.
There are some pretty good places on the Pearl Street mall too, but I don’t recall any names.
But tell me about Sushi Zanmei... any good? I eat raw fish too. I haven’t really met a calorie I didn’t like.
....at first I dismissed this as more academic b*llsh*t, but on second thought I think it’s illuminating...now that colleges been outed by Horowitz and others; they’ve got a public relations problem, and it’s getting bigger...in-your-face Anti-Americanism is bad for business and college presidents know it...this guy at Colorado is worried....that’s why he’s doing this....time was, the faculty Senate would have shouted him down....their silence on this is telling.
I know. Our son was at CU this year. Mercifully (for us) he flunked out. Onward and upward! I went to Berzerkeley, so I know what tofu-addled minds can absorb. But we did find some great restaurants in Boulder.
Why are the taxpayers of Colorado coerced into funding this left-wing support group and indoctrination center?
ah...boulder,
called
20 square miles
surrounded by reality.
I don’t like sushi, but their teriyaki is good. My friends who do say it’s the best in Boulder. I found Flagstaff too peppery. I like the Hungry Toad, and I used to like Sawadee a lot, but they closed (as far as I know).
Slightly off topic, but that's not necessarily a left-wing cause. Most doctrinaire leftists are also the most fervent prohibitionists. Case in point: that the first federal drug prohibition laws and national alcohol prohibition were passed during the Woodrow Wilson administration, and federal marijuana prohibition was passed on FDR's watch.
How liberal is the University of Colorado at Boulder?
CU is very LIBERAL, I’m surprised they keep scores during SPORTING EVENTS. I mean, they shouldn’t should they? They don’t want to losers to feel bad if the lost!!
Good point. Colorado was once a site where professors nearing retirement and young bloods on the rise were employed. Today it ranks as one of America’s largest junior colleges. In the business world one hires a Colorado grad with fingers crossed.
Maybe they can hire Hillary Clinton if she loses.
She pretty Conservative compared to CU right?
>> I don’t like sushi, but their teriyaki is good. My friends who do say it’s the best in Boulder.
Thanks for the review! Mrs. Tick and I will be in Boulder later this year (Lord willing and the creek don’t rise), so maybe we’ll give it a try.
You might want to try Greenbriar Inn: http://www.greenbriarinn.com/
I think the food is great. Lots of game dishes. We’ve been eating there for years, we go every chance we get.
>> In the business world one hires a Colorado grad with fingers crossed.
That’s simply not true. Competition for CU grads is fierce! I guess you’re just not familiar with the snowboard manufacturing business, dude.
CU grads are also in great demand among bongmakers. They can step immediately into a product test or field service job the day they graduate.
He's too dim to see that there already IS a litmus test to "have a particular (liberal) perspective".
He's either in total denial, or not the brightest bulb in the pack!
Wow. I had lost track of Bud Peterson’s career since I was at the M.E. department at Texas A&M. This is quite good news for CU Boulder. By the way, at that time, the M.E. department was QUITE well populated with dynamic, visionary evangelical Christian professors. I do not know if Bud Peterson is a Christian, but he’s a good Ag, though, as evidenced by his work at CU Boulder.
https://www.cu.edu/content/cu-regents-appoint-bud-peterson-new-chancellor-cuboulder
DENVER
–The Board of Regents, today, appointed G. P. Bud Peterson as the
Chancellor of the University of Colorado at Boulder. His appointment
will be effective July 15, 2006.
“Bud is an
outstanding scholar and administrator who will play a key role in
taking the Boulder campus to a new level,” said president Brown.
Bud
Peterson is currently the Provost at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
in Troy, New York. At Rensselaer, he has been instrumental in the
institutional transformation currently underway, and has played a key
role in the dramatic improvement in the quality, size and diversity of
the faculty. Prior to joining Rensselaer in 2000, Peterson had worked
extensively in the sciences, particularly in engineering. He spent
time with NASA as a research scientist at the Johnson Space Center. He
then held faculty and administrative posts at Texas A&M, which is a
member of the prestigious American Association of Universities. The
Boulder campus has been an AAU member since 1966.
Peterson
garnered national honors at Texas A&M. He was named the
Halliburton Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the College of
Engineering’s Tenneco Professor. Peterson’s work drew the attention of
the National Science Foundation who invited him to serve as the Program
Director for its Thermal Transport and Thermal Processing Division.
The NSF also honored him with its Award for Outstanding Management.
“I
am honored to have been selected to lead the University of Colorado at
Boulder during this important time of new opportunities,” said
Peterson. “President Brown has shown tremendous leadership in
establishing a new direction for the University of Colorado, and I look
forward to having the chance to work with him and the campus’ academic
and research communities.
“I was very
impressed with the faculty, staff and students I met during my recent
visit to campus, and am confident that by working together, we will
continue to improve and advance the quality and national standing of
the University,” added Peterson.
Peterson
oversaw the hiring of nearly 40 percent of the current faculty at
Rensselaer, increasing the total number of tenured and tenure-track
faculty by 20 percent, and improving the diversity of the
tenured/tenure-track faculty by more than doubling the number of
under-represented minorities and increasing the number of women by 40
percent. In addition during his nearly six-year tenure as Provost, the
quality, size and diversity of the student body have all increased,
with the number of full-time Ph.D. students increasing by 25 percent.
The
chancellor, a direct report to the president of the University, will be
the chief academic and administrative officer of the CU-Boulder
campus. The chancellor is responsible to the president for the conduct
and affairs of UCB in accordance with the policies of the Board of
Regents for all operations and activities at the campus. Primary
responsibilities entail development and fundraising activities for the
campus, and on-going responsibilities for representational activities
with alumni, donors, supporters, and business and community leaders.
The
University is offering Peterson a $330,000 salary. As the chancellor,
Peterson and his family will reside in the University Residence.
After
a six-month search process, the search committee forwarded five names
to president Brown for his review. Following interviews with the
candidates, president Brown recommended two finalists for the post.
This
week Elizabeth “Betty” Capaldi, Ph.D., the Vice Chancellor and Chief of
Staff of The State University of New York system (SUNY) withdrew her
name from the process. She has subsequently accepted a position with
Arizona State University.
The University
of Colorado is a three-campus system with campuses in Boulder and
Colorado Springs, and a Denver and Health Sciences Center campus
located in downtown Denver and at the former Fitzsimons Army Base in
Aurora. CU is a premier teaching and research university, ranked sixth
among public institutions in federal research expenditures by the
National Science Foundation. Academic prestige is marked by CU’s four
Nobel laureates, seven Mac Arthur “genius” Fellows, 17 astronauts, 19
Rhodes Scholars and CU-Boulder’s ranking of 11th best university in the
world in The Economist.
For
further information, please contact Michele McKinney in the CU System
Office of Institutional Relations at (303) 492-6206.
My thought exactly...but I'm too much of a wimp to post it here. lol Many conservatives I know (real world, tho some here too) remain in the closet re: their opinion of the marijuana laws.
Is it in the Classifieds under “Cannon Fodder”?
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."
I couldn't stop laughing!
a question and a thought -—
...should there be two chairs — one for a social conservative and one for an economic conservative?
....perhaps the whole hub-bub at Boulder, CO is simply a matter of less oxygen at higher heights.
The career prospects of a Conservative on that campus bring to mind Theodore Bikel’s joke about the bright future of an Israeli Swineherd.
I volunteer, if I can bring my guns on campus.
Excellent point. Most serious students wont take these useless multi-culti courses unless forced to and the nitwits that actually want to take them are just along for the ride anyway. The only reason they exist at all is that the Marxists in charge force students to take at least two or three of them during a four year program.
I see that in his previous job Peterson increased the diversity by hiring more women and minorities. That gives him a platform to try to increase the diversity of thought on the CU campus. You’re right. He is probably a good guy, trying to do the right thing. I’m not sure if this is the best way, but at least he is trying. BTW, did you notice how the Lib profs want to control who is appointed to that chair? Their definition of a “Conservative”, at best, would be a RINO. Lincoln Chaffee would be exactly who they would want. I’d rather give them Thomas Sowell.
and to balance out the 800 to 32 libs vs conservatives now on roster
and
“I'd rather see a quality academic...”
- “a” academic, like in ONE - making it 800 to 33. Just WOW. That would certainly constitute a balance, in lib-mind. A giant step for diversity
True, but there would be little scope for such Marxist requirements in a truly competitive college market.
That bubble is very likely to burst, in spite of its having been propped up by government subsidies. The growth of college costs has been much higher than inflation and economic growth, and is now outstripping the inclination of governments to fund it. And the domestic pool of students is just about tapped out.
Because "diversity" is a code-word for non-white Christian male. Just like African American, is a code-word for someone who is dark-skinned. They could be from the Caribbean living in France, but PC language still has to use the code-word.
I don't think that's necessarily the case if I understand Peterson's motives correctly. But it isn't so much the conservative canon that is lacking but the fact that every single topic that can possibly be illuminated though the lens of liberal politics, is so, and it makes a very great deal of difference to one's education if one is constantly having to battle one's way up an ideological torrent like a spawning salmon.
Take the topic of Forestry, for example. This nominally apolitical field of study has been intensely politicized to its considerable detriment (one local university has announced it is dropping a decades-old program altogether). It should be noted that those doing the politicization are not matriculants of the program but inhabitants of other fields of study whose focus is, naturally enough, on politics. Who cares what a sociology or political science major thinks about forestry, anyway? Well, obviously they do, and given sufficient ideological leverage within a faculty, it counts.
That isn't really the sort of thing that is going to be addressed by keeping a pet conservative in a cage. Why a mathematics major should be made to feel guilty by the Gender Studies department about the disparity in distribution in sex within his fellow students is a bit of a mystery. Worse is the insistence that it reflects a disparity in the very science itself, to be addressed by (what a surprise) funding and curriculum changes that favor a presumably oppressed class which - mirabile dictu! - happens to populate the Gender Studies department. This within a field that is perhaps the most inherently immune from politics of all. The rot has gotten that far.
Most observers of academia labor under the fond illusion that the choice between astronomy and astrology, chemistry and alchemy, was made centuries ago and that there is no turning back. Unfortunately turning that back appears to be the holy grail of notably radical members of the social sciences and liberal arts faculties, and it is not only the students who will suffer but learning itself. IMHO.
Come to think of it, the Red Lion Inn is good, they have lots of game dishes too. They’re a small part of the way up towards Nederland, I think that’s Canyon.
We also like Sugarbeet (Longmont) and The Wayside Inn (Berthoud). Longmont used to have Hunter’s, they closed, and there is also Martini’s Bistro, which has great food but very slow service several times in a row now.
To add to that, if I am correct LBJ banned LSD during his Administration.
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