Susan Greene: Conservatives Need Not Apply for CSU Chancellor

Susan Greene at the Denver Post scoffs at the idea of retiring U.S. Senator Wayne Allard serving as president of Colorado State University:

The National Education Association has graded him with an “F.” And the American Association of University Women has rated his work with a “zero.”

“Sen. Allard is a kind and humble man. But his voting record on educational issues has not received passing grades,” says former at-large University of Colorado Regent Jim Martin. “To appoint him would not be in the best interest of the institution or the state.”

Allard’s environmental record — most notably, his doubts about humankind’s part in climate change — also would besmirch the university.

In other words, Greene is hanging a sign on the door of higher education that says: “Conservatives need not apply”. Here’s the ideological litmus test:

• If you don’t kowtow to the teachers union lobby, you’re not qualified.
• If you have any concern about the extent of the federal government’s role in education, you’re not qualified.
• If you are joined by 31,000 scientists in applying rational skepticism to a scientific issue, you’re not qualified.
• If you’re not on board with Bill Ritter’s wildly oversold, command-and-control “new-energy economy”, you’re not qualified.

Now I’m not sure whether or not Wayne Allard would make a good president of Colorado State University. But the reasons Susan Greene gives have very little, if anything, to do with the quality of education provided by the taxpayer-funded institution.

The label of not having an advanced degree doesn’t apply to Dr. Wayne Allard, like it did to Bruce Benson, so there goes that argument. According to some cocktail party denizens, placing a conservative in charge of a state university would be positively gauche.