Email Prompts Resignation at UVA Think Tank

Here is more from Politico:

A member of the governing council of a University of Virginia think tank resigned after a records request by POLITICO uncovered an email in which he belittled women working at the prestigious public policy center.

Council member Fred W. Scott Jr. said women at the Miller Center “don’t like to be put into groups” unless they involve “Lunch, coffee, Children, etc.” and that “some people just like to stir up trouble” and should not be promoted.

Scott, a member of a prominent family of longtime UVA donors, also wrote: “There are no United White People College Funds or White Students' Alliances or Men Against Drunk Driving. Even at a ‘tolerant university' ... especially there! Women's Initative [sic]. We both support it. Is there a Men's Initiative???”

Scott sent the email to the governing council’s former chairman a year ago, but it wasn’t until the inquiry by POLITICO that he quit and the Miller Center launched an investigation. It’s the latest episode to rock the UVA think tank, which has faced intense pushback over its decision to appoint Marc Short, a former aide to President Donald Trump, to a senior fellow position. It also marks the third departure from the center’s governing council in the last year over allegations involving sexual harassment, the center acknowledged in a statement to POLITICO.

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch piece about historians leaving leaving UVA's think tank after hiring a former Trump Administration official.

Historians Quit UVA Think Tank After Hiring of Ex-Trump Aide

Here is more from HuffPost:

Two distinguished historians at the University of Virginia have resigned from its public policy center following the school’s recent hiring of a former aide to President Donald Trump, a decision that has also spurred protests among students and faculty.

William I. Hitchcock and Melvyn P. Leffler announced their departures from the Miller Center of Public Affairs on Monday to protest Marc Short, Trump’s former legislative affairs director, receiving a paid fellowship at the think tank that also studies the presidency. The professors blasted Short’s fellowship as running counter to the center’s values.

“By associating himself with an administration that shows no respect for truth, he has contributed to the erosion of civil discourse and democratic norms that are essential to democratic governance and that are central to the mission of the Miller Center,” read a letter shared by Hitchcock on Twitter.

William Antholis, the center’s director and CEO, said in a statement he was saddened by their departure but that Short’s appointment would help promote the think tank’s goals.

From 2004-2014, Mr. Antholis was managing director of the Brookings Institution, a think tank that has been embroiled in various controversies for years.  Here is a statement from Antholis.

A National Review piece entitled "A Baseless Attack on Marc Short" is on the UVA think tank's website.  Slate says the two professors were right to leave.

Politico asks if the UVA drama is a warning to Trump officials looking for new gigs, including at think tanks.

Conservative Think Tank Coming to UW-Madison?

Here is more from the Superior Telegram:

Thursday, the Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee allocated $3 million in state funds in an unprecedented move to use taxpayer money to fund a partisan, conservative think tank at UW-Madison called the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership.

Speaker Robin Vos stated in media accounts that this Center was designed to counter "left-leaning" research organizations and "liberal thinking" on campus.

A board of exclusively conservative Republican political appointees — without a single Democrat — would control the think tank.

According to press accounts, UW political science professor and former Thompson staffer, Ryan Owens, who has received funding from the conservative Bradley Foundation, is vying to lead the center. A significant portion, $500,000, must be used to pay speakers for engagements at other UW campuses.

UW-Madison currently has its own public policy school, the world-renowned Lafollette School of Public Affairs, which receives $600,000 of public funds annually. The Tommy G. Thompson Center will receive $1.5 million annually over the next two years, with more to come from the private sector.

Many seem to be up in arms about the think tank...

Think tanks housed within universities are quite common, the most popular being the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

Here is an Inside Higher Ed article on the challenges that university-affiliated think tanks have been facing.

MGM Resorts Starts New Policy Think Tank

Casinos are not what first comes to mind when thinking about the establishment of think tanks, but that notion may be changing.

MGM Resorts International, the global hospitality and entertainment company which operates destination resorts such as Bellagio and Mandalay Bay, has started a new public policy think tank.

Here is more:

MGM Resorts International and UNLV are partnering up to create a think tank that will seek bipartisan solutions to various economic, social, political and workplace issues.

The MGM Resorts Public Policy Institute at UNLV — co-chaired by retired Sen. Harry Reid and former House Speaker John Boehner — will concentrate on comprehensive, authentic and relevant national and international policy issues that impact the travel, tourism, hospitality and gaming industries and the global communities in which they operate.

The development of the institute is part of MGM Resorts’ continuing efforts to expand its leadership in extensive conversations on matters of public policy and will continue to strengthen UNLV’s engagement on a wide variety of national and international issues.

The institute will be housed in UNLV’s School of Public Policy and Leadership within the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs.

Work will commence at the think tank later this year pending formal approval by the Nevada System of Higher Education Board of Regents.

The Associated Press reports that MGM has committed more than $950,000 for three years to the think tank that will bear its name.

The new think tank will be one of a number of policy organizations that is housed within a college or university.