A Visiting Professor of Conservative Thought Takes on Boulder, Colorado

(from PopeCenter.org):

By Brian Domitrovic

Several years ago, the University of Colorado Boulder did something pioneering in American higher education.

It committed to bringing onto its faculty, on a rotating basis, a notable academic conservative in an endowed chair. I held this chair, the Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought & Policy, over the past academic year, following upon Bradley Birzer and Stephen F. Hayward before me.

CU Boulder is, by reputation, one of the most left-liberal places on the American academic scene. Along with the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and the University of California, Berkeley, CU embodies the quintessence of the progressive academy: the school is elite (if public), and along with its very precious town it is hip, moralizing, ecological, democratic-socialist, and overwhelmingly inhospitable to those on the right.

But further characteristics of Boulder, Colorado, and its university, clear to all who spend time there, include being laid-back, entrepreneurial, and now rather libertarian since the “green rush” of legal marijuana enthusiasts has pushed into Boulder mightily.

In the fight for the soul of Boulder, laid-back is winning, and that provides an opening for conservatives. CONTINUE READING HERE