Tuesday, March 19, 2013

CU-Boulder Names Former Heritage Fellow as First Visiting Scholar of Conservative Thought and Policy

Here is what the Wall Street Journal is reporting:
The University of Colorado, Boulder, is the kind of campus that conservatives have long criticized as a bastion of liberal groupthink. That perception could start to change this year.
The school on Wednesday named Steven Hayward, a former fellow at the Heritage Foundation think tank, as its first visiting scholar of Conservative Thought and Policy. The position, which was funded with private donations and is among the first of its kind on a U.S. campus, was created to broaden the intellectual diversity among the faculty, said Earl Wright, a Denver banker who sat on the selection committee and helped fund the position.
Mr. Hayward, who has written a two-volume biography of Ronald Reagan, holds a Ph.D. in American studies from Claremont Graduate School. He is scheduled to teach four classes, including constitutional law and free-market environmentalism. He said he would sprinkle his syllabus with authors like Friedrich Hayek and would try to "fill in the gaps" on some subjects.
"I think a lot of people are watching this around the country," he said. "Other possible donors want to see if this actually adds something serious that is missing from the intellectual spectrum of the university or does it further politicize the campus. I'm hoping it's the former." A 2008 survey on campus found that of the 825 faculty members, just 23 were registered Republicans.
Jon Caldara, a Boulder resident and 1987 CU alum who now leads the Independence Institute, a free-market think tank, called Mr. Hayward a trailblazer. "I expect the National Guard will have to be called out to escort him in," he said.
Here are some publications that Mr. Hayward wrote while at the Heritage Foundation.  Mr. Hayward was also a former F.K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).