Thread: Tancredo a prof at liberal CU?

Tancredo a prof at liberal CU?
By Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Originally published 09:37 a.m., May 14, 2008
Updated 10:00 a.m., May 14, 2008

Give retiring U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo a job at The Onion!

The Littleton Republican got such a chuckle out of a Rocky story this morning about the University of Colorado's $9 million plan to bring high-profile political conservatives to teach on the left-leaning Boulder campus that he jokingly threw his hat in the ring.

"I should be the clear favorite for the job," Tancredo said — tongue firmly in cheek — in a news release announcing he'd sent in his application. "Who doesn't want a slightly used Congressman, with a 98% lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union, educating their children?"

The joke announcement continued:

"As for his references, Tancredo listed conservative commentator Pat Buchanan as well as the entire Minutemen organization.

"The Tancredo suggested curriculum would include Western Civilization and the threat of Islamofascism, English Only 101, and American Assimilation, which would replace Chicono and ethnic studies.

"Tancredo also plans to secure the border around the CU campus with a 20 foot high fence.

Tancredo concluded, "In addition to my experience as a teacher and politician, I promise to have immigration officials check every student prior to all my classes."

Contacted by the Rocky, Tancredo spokesman T.Q. Houlton confirmed the news release was "definitely a joke."

"He's absolutely not applying for (the job)," Houlton said. "Tom saw that story in the Rocky Mountain News this morning. Obviously, he thought it was pretty hilarious they needed to diversify like that. We thought we'd have a little fun with it."

CU officials want to create an endowment for a Visiting Chair in Conservative Thought and Policy.

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 said. University officials said they hope the fund would yield the $200,000-plus per year necessary to provide a stipend and a staff person.

"A good campus is always trying to find ways to add diversity of thought and scholarship," Hilliard said.

"It's not designed to be a thumb in the eye to anyone's progressive politics."

Names tossed out include Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, conservative columnist George Will and neoconservative pundit William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard.

The most vocal criticism so far is coming from the right.

"Like Margaret Mead among the Samoans, they're planning to study conservatives. That's hilarious," Will told The Wall Street Journal in a story pubished Tuesday.

Conservative activists have long targeted the Boulder campus for its liberal bent and sought to correct it.

CU political science professor emeritus Ed Rozek recently bought an ad in the Daily Camera in which he tallied voter registration records of faculty and administrators.

Rozek's finding: Of 825 faculty members in arts and sciences, business, education, journalism and law, he found only 23 registered Republicans.

Rozek did not break out the number of registered Democrats or independents.

Still, Rozek said he found the idea of an endowed chair in conservative views "humorous" and said it smacks of tokenism.

"What is needed is pluralism of ideas, meaning no political party has a monopoly on any campus," Rozek said. "All views — socialism, communism, democracy — should be discussed."

Rozek said he would prefer 10 visiting scholars from the world's leading institutions of higher learning coming to teach at Boulder every year.

Republican and Regent Tom Lucero said he, too, was disappointed in the narrow focus of the endowed chair.

"Part of what our goal and intent is is to widen the debate," Lucero said.

"The way you widen the debate is by casting the description in much broader terms. It should not come down to a debate of conservative vs. liberal."

Hilliard said the endowed chair is not a token gesture.

He said Chancellor Bud Peterson signed on to the effort — in the works for at least a decade — as soon as he started on the job.

Peterson was at a conference Tuesday and unavailable for comment.

"Conservative thought has been extremely influential in economics and dominated the political landscape for the last 30 years," Hilliard said.

Regent chairwoman and Republican Pat Hayes said she was disappointed by the opposition from other Republicans.

"To do this chair for conservative thought and policy is a great opportunity for the university," she said.

"Why not embrace it and say, 'Congratulations, university. We think you're going the right direction.'"
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2 ... professor/

If a person TRULY values and respects 'diversity', that same person should be willing to be open to not just diversity of races, ethnicities, religions, languages, etc. but also to diversity of opinion. Sadly, this is one of the most lagging aspect of the notion of diversity I find in our society. It is surprisingly true even in our higher educational systems as well (IMHO).

Good for Tom. I hope he gets hired. In lieu of that, making a strong statement that diversity of opinion matters - is a good, althuugh distant, second place.