You know you've got problems when even David Horowitz has reservations about your plan to endow a chair of "Conservative Thought and Policy:"
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."
While he approves of efforts to bolster a conservative presence on campus, Mr. Horowitz fears that setting up a token right-winger as The Conservative at Boulder will brand the person as a curiosity, like "an animal in the zoo."
I wouldn't go so far as to agree with Horowitz, but it does seem rather silly to set up a chair for this purpose when really what's needed are classes that address the history of conservative thought. After all, the complaint of people like Horowitz is that liberal bias is pervasive in the academy, not merely that the department chairs are biased. Indeed, Horowitz's real complaint here is that endowing a chair doesn't go far enough, hence his push for an "academic bill of rights," that directly dictates the curriculum via a restoration of political "balance" in what is taught at the university. I know in his heart Horowitz craves domination, not balance, but for liberals who are intellectually honest, studying the conservative intellectual movement is a worthwhile pursuit, if for nothing else than to understand how your opponent thinks and why.
--Mori Dinauer
