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SPEAKOUT: CU regent defends his record

Columnist Rosen ignores context in applying ideological litmus test

By Paul Schauer

Published May 14, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Abraham Lincoln once said "you don't strengthen the weak by weakening the strong." Lincoln, a voracious reader, was guided in leadership and thought by the Bible. In responding to Mike Rosen's comments of May 9 in the Rocky Mountain News ("Better choices for GOP"), I call your attention to the Eighth Commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."

Let me set the record straight on Rosen's charges.

He claims that I, in my role as a University of Colorado regent, "sided with the Democrats to stymie the creation of a Department of Western Civilization at the University of Colorado and joined them again to oppose Steve Bosley as board chair." In fact, the entire board recognized how ill-conceived the department idea was and voted 9-0 to table it.

I favor teaching Western Civilization and have voted in favor of former President Hank Brown's recommendation to create a certificate program in Western Civilization, and also voted to approve additional funding for its teaching. I also favor more intellectual diversity among our course offerings and the faculty who teach them.

The 9-0 vote to table the creation of such a department (which included even the regent who proposed the idea) came because there was absolutely no analysis done on the fiscal or academic impact. The sponsor withdrew the resolution, and it has not reintroduced.

Just as alarming, the president and chancellors, who would have been charged with implementing the idea, were blindsided by it at the regents' meeting (so were several regents). No matter how worthy an idea, as a fiscal conservative, I oppose writing blank checks that would commit the university for years to a multimillion-dollar undertaking without first knowing what we are getting into and what it costs.

Regarding the vote for board chair, I did support Pat Hayes over Steve Bosley. I did so because Bosley had previously told board members he would not seek the chair position if appointed to chair the presidential search, which he was. He later changed his mind. I voted for Hayes not based on ideological grounds, as Rosen claims, but because chairing both the presidential search and board would be too much for one person. Neither would get the full attention it deserves.

Rosen applies his ideological litmus test to regents, even if it means playing fast and loose with the facts. But at CU, we have many more important issues to deal with, including boosting our state funding (now 49th nationally), keeping tuition in check, and ensuring CU's Anschutz Medical Campus has appropriate funding to graduate the doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists and other health-care professionals Colorado needs. Yes, intellectual diversity is important, but it is not the most pressing issue we face.

Regarding my support of President Bruce Benson, when considering anyone for any position, experience with that person will affect consideration. I supported Benson for president, as my vote showed.

One of Rosen's overriding comments is that I don't fit his definition of a Republican. This reminds me of authoritarians or dictators who demand that all follow only their rules. It is interesting to see what happens around the world as authoritarians take over and diminish education and freedom.

My record in the Colorado House of Representatives shows I took on higher education to make it more responsive to Coloradans, both fiscally and academically. The legislation is still the basis for management of all higher education in Colorado. I've brought that same approach to my work as a CU regent and will continue to.

Republican Paul Schauer represents the 6th Congressional District on the University of Colorado Board of Regents.

Comments

  • May 14, 2008

    6:29 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    JohnSWren writes:

    The Department of Western Civilization Rosen pushes is an interesting idea, similar to the endowed chair for a conservative that is being promoted now.

    Does far left plus far right equal fair? That seems to be the idea behind both proposals.

    I'm going to suggest this as a topic at the Denver Socrates Cafe this week. If discussing this sort of thing is interesting to you, join us!

    We meet each Thursday at 19th & Broadway in downtown Denver. Details and optional RSVP at http://socratescafe.meetup.com/82

    Mike & Paul, will you join us as we seek to find the truth by our own lights?

    I've known Paul Schauer since he was elected a Regan delegate to the GOP National Convention in 1976. Mike Rosen, on the other hand, is a liberal in sheepskins, in my opinion, a blow hard for social engineering at its worst.

    That could be another topic for us at Socrates Cafe: Who do you trust and why? Or maybe that's just stating the same topic in a different way.

  • May 14, 2008

    8:23 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    irisman writes:

    I live in Paul Schauer's district and I consider him a reasonable and conscientious Regent, but none of this carries any weight with Rosen. His "problem" according to Rosen is he's not far enough Right.
    A couple of weeks ago Rosen claimed that global warming isn't happening, because most of the scientists are "Liberals". Rosen's sole line of reasoning is "Right wing good, Liberal bad".

  • May 14, 2008

    9:36 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    RS writes:

    The best way to improve taxpayer support for "higher" education would be to eliminate programs working against taxpayers. The most obvious is the CU "ethnic studies" department whose former chairman, Ward Churchill, advocated the murder of taxpayers! As long as hate-based indocrination programs exist within taxpayer funded institutions, taxpayers have both the right and the duty to oppose having their money spent on those institutions.

  • May 14, 2008

    10:08 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    malis writes:

    As to whether Schauer is 'Republican enough' or not...I'm not that familiar with either the person or the issues involved so will leave the judgment to others. I must observe, however, that Rosen's positions are not entirely original...mostly parroting the standard 'right-wing noise machine' talking points (the intolerance of the left-wing education establishment because they won't tolerate the right-wing's intolerance!).

    He should probably leave that shtick to David Horowitz, who does it a whole lot better. I do imagine he'll be able to milk it a while on his radio show though...can't blame the man for making a living.

    I'll make another observation. Doesn't matter who's saying it, what the topic is, or from what point of view, the Rosen statement:

    "I've known [Jones] for years and,
    unlike [Smith], he's affable and
    soft-spoken. The problem is he
    lacks philosophical fortitude."

    ...will almost always more accurately translate to:

    "I've known [Jones] for years and,
    unlike [Smith], he's affable and
    soft-spoken. The problem is he
    doesn't agree with me."

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