You can argue that more Colorado public school teachers are aware of their rights and how the union uses money in politics now than a year ago. A new article in School Reform News, coincidentally written by the proprietor of this site, details the Independence Institute's recent efforts to inform teachers union members how some of their money is spent on politics and how they can get that portion back. This becomes more relevant when you consider that the Democrat-controlled legislature is following the union's lead in trying to roll back successful education reforms in Colorado. … [Read more...]

To almost no one's surprise, the Boulder Faculty Assembly has come forward with a statement supporting colleague Ward Churchill's right to free speech. According to the FOX News report, the statement read in part as follows: The lifeblood of any strong university is its diversity of ideas which allows for the environment necessary to educate and train young learners and advance the boundaries of knowledge. Debate is a fundamental characteristic of a university. In another unstartling development, Churchill's colleagues in the Ethnic Studies Department demonstrated why they teach "ethnic studies" and not law, politics, or constitutional history: Churchill failed to show up at a news conference scheduled Tuesday. Instead, four … [Read more...]

Clay has directed our attention to an important resolution scheduled to come before the Colorado House of Representatives tomorrow morning repudiating Ward Churchill's virulent essay on the 9/11 victims. Perhaps the legislature could also follow Governor Owens' lead and call on the professor to resign his tenured faculty position at the University of Colorado. We certainly need some more Campus Accountability! In other news... it's official! Mike Coffman is running for governor. But we already knew that was coming. … [Read more...]

In regards to the mushrooming Ward Churchill controversy, David Harsanyi's column in this morning's Post advocates market pressure from parents and students (let me add, taxpaying citizens) as a means of injecting massive doses of calcium into the backs of CU's administrators. Harsanyi certainly is doing his part to put on the pressure. Mike Rosen has been tackling the issue head-on during his morning 850 KOA program. This blog and others (especially Joshua's) have been adding their voices, as well. Even well-known highly liberal CU law professor Paul Campos makes the case for firing Churchill. Colorado citizens send their tax dollars, many of whom also send their children (and in many cases their children's tuition, as well) … [Read more...]

The case of CU Prof. Ward Churchill has begun to highlight an interesting question: how will the radical fringes of American academia survive and adapt to an intense popular scrutiny, enhanced by the vast connections and lightning reactions of a less-than-sympathetic new media? The CU Board of Regents has called a meeting on the issue, which at this point probably translates to a lot of talk and a hope that the issue will just fade away. Meanwhile, the campus College Republicans hold a petition drive calling for Churchill's resignation. And Joshua interviews a CU history professor who places the blame for the university's inaction on the tenure system. Regardless of what happens specifically in the Churchill case, universities … [Read more...]

The Poudre School District in Fort Collins, the ninth largest in Colorado with 25,000 students, is seriously considering whether they want to "Be the Change." Poudre's search for a new superintendent has narrowed to two candidates - one of them former Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Mike Miles. Miles is currently the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in the Fountain-Fort Carson School District. Anyone who remembers Miles' ill-fated but impassioned run for high office this past year will remember how he inspired the left-wing base of the Colorado Democratic Party in a fashion akin to Howard Dean. Like Dean, Miles' campaign crashed and burned in the primary to the anointed candidate and now current U.S. Senator … [Read more...]