Tancredo Jokes He Wants To Be CU Professor

CBS4Denver.com ^ | 5/14/08

[Dawnsblood]

Republican congressman Tom Tancredo has fired off a wisecracking press release saying he wants to be a professor of conservative politics at the University of Colorado -- a school often criticized by conservatives as being too liberal.

The outspoken opponent of illegal immigration is suggesting classes in "English Only 101" and "American Assimilation." He's also proposing a 20-foot-high fence around the border of the university's Boulder campus.

Tancredo spokesman T.Q. Houlton said Wednesday Tancredo doesn't really want a job at CU when he retires from Congress in January. He's just poking fun at reports that CU wants to establish a new position for a professor of conservative thought and policy.

CU is considering a $9 million program to bring high-profile political conservatives to teach on the left-leaning campus, the Rocky Mountain News reported Tuesday.

The program would bring a rotating cast of scholars, historians, politicians and media personalities to a town often ridiculed by the political right as "the People's Republic of Boulder."

The first scholar could be on campus next year for a one- or two-year stint, CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard told the Rocky. University officials said they hope the fund would yield the $200,000-plus per year necessary to provide a stipend and a staff person.

Tancredo briefly ran for the GOP presidential nomination last year. In recent weeks he has been pushing for a fence on the U.S.-Mexico border.

[Dawnsblood]

I think he could handle it!

[ravingnutter]

I think it is extremely rude considering it looks like they are making a sincere attempt to bring in a conservative view to the liberal campus to balance things out. We should be applauding them, not mocking them. I have always supported Tancredo, but not this time, he is only reinforcing their perceptions/stereotypes of conservatives.

[Dawnsblood]

I disagree. I think they are looking for a “Token Conservative” so people will stop talking about how liberal their campus is. So I hope this is how seriously all conservatives treat their “offer”.

[Paridel]

They have also stated that there is no real need for the conservative chair to be conservative. It could be a liberal that studies conservative views...

-paridel

[ravingnutter]

Maybe you saw another story that I didn’t because that information is not in the article, even at the link. I do have a tendency to look for the best intentions from others...although I am in no way naive...until they let me down. I guess we shall see once we know who they hire.

[ravingnutter]

Well, if that is the case, then maybe we should just “kill them with kindness” and offer to help them choose someone worthy of that position instead of mocking them...just turn it around on them and watch them backpedal. It’s actually more fun.

[Dawnsblood]

Sorry, I surf the internet so much that I guess I assume everybody has no life just like me. MM posted on this the other day. It seemed pretty obvious to me from that article, maybe not so much this one.

[Paridel]

Maybe you saw another story that I didn’t because that information is not in the article, even at the link.

I did indeed. Early this week in the Wall Street Journal (Help Wanted: Lefty College Seeks Right-Wing Prof):

Chancellor Peterson's response: Not to worry. He's not trying to change the essential nature of CU-Boulder.

In fact, Mr. Peterson said it's not imperative that the new professor of conservative thought be an actual conservative.

"We hire lots of scholars of the French language," he says, "and they aren't necessarily French."

[ravingnutter]

Although I usually cringe when I hear MM mentioned as she is usually way over the top on most things, sometimes to the point of hysterics, the quote from the Chancellor in your linked article does give the impression that they are not totally sincere.

However, I will repeat...we could always offer to assist them to find a qualified conservative, send them a list of candidates we would like to see in there. If they take the assistance, then we know they are sincere, if not, then it will be fun watching them backpedal and spin their way out of it and they will be the ones that end up looking like fools. If we mock them, as Tancredo has done, we only look childish and reinforce the stereotype they have created for us, so I still think his idea was a bad one.