Ed Rozek, Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado, thought the public berating of Bruce Benson by the CU faculty was outrageous. He also thought there was more to it than just questioning Benson’s qualifications. Could the “lynching of Bruce Benson” have had something to do with his involvement in Republican party politics?

So, Rozek did a little research project and found that of the 823 administrators and faculty listed in the CU directory, only 23 of the 823 people listed were registered Republicans.

From Rozek’s open letter in the Daily Camera, March 30, 2008:

“What outrageous discrimination against Republicans in the bastion of ritualistic liberalism! ….If the situation were reversed and the administration and faculty of CU were dominated by Republicans, is there any doubt what the Democrats would do in the media, in the state Legislature? Universities should not be dominated by any political party! All ideas of the modern world should be freely, objectively and rigorously discussed.”

Registered Republicans still hold a 34.8% - 30.6% advantage over Democrats in Colorado (34.6% are unaffiliated). It would seem reasonable to assume that the children of Colorado parents might be of similar ideology to their parents, yet the faculty and administration at the flagship University bear no resemblance to the ideological diversity of the rest of the state.

CU likes to boast about the ethnically diverse student body and faculty. Not too surprisingly, there is even a “Blue Ribbon Commission on Diversity” at CU that produces volumes of reports to document that CU gets a sampling of every skin color on the planet. A student at CU might find somebody from Uzbekistan, but if they want to find a conservative professor they may need to check the endangered species section of the Henderson Museum.