As Free Exchange on Campus points out, the University of Colorado’s Chancellor is planning on raising $9 million for an endowment to fund a “Professor of Conservative Thought and Policy” in an effort to bolster the campus’s intellectual diversity. [Campus Progress is part of the Free Exchange on Campus Coalition].

 As argued by Free Exchange:

Again, there's nothing wrong with seeking job candidates who either specialize in conservatism as a substantive area of study or who bring a conservative perspective to their field.  However, rather than setting up a token conservative job opening - especially one that privileges political leanings over scholarship - CU should consider working with its faculty and academic departments to create positions for these specialties within the traditional university structure.

Why an endowed chair? My guess is that the chancellor is trying to score political points with conservative donors and lawmakers after all of the hoopla around Ward Churchill, as well as a nationwide campaign to pass legislation restricting the free exchange of ideas in the classroom. An endowed chair is more visible and clear than the more reasonable steps that focus on scholarship mentioned above.

Even David Horowitz, who can be partly credited for creating a political environment where professors are increasingly afraid to tackle controversial issue in the classroom for fear of being declared “dangerous” and having their classes called exercises in indoctrination, doesn’t like the idea of a special slot for conservatives:

While he approves of efforts to bolster a conservative presence on campus, Mr. Horowitz fears that setting up a token right-winger as The Conservative at Boulder will brand the person as a curiosity, like "an animal in the zoo."