Academic Detente: the Visiting Conservative Program at CU-Boulder

This year, Francis L. Beckwith became the third visiting scholar to occupy the conservative professor chair at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Perhaps you could describe it as CU-Boulder’s exchange program with reality.

Overall his experience was positive although there were just enough reminders that, as Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz, “We’re not in Kansas anymore.”

On the blog maintained by the James C. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, he wrote:

“Although there were many interesting exchanges, one in particular stands out. It involved the case of Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores. While I was trying to delicately explain to the students the four types of birth control to which Hobby Lobby objected and that the Secretary of Health and Human Services had mandated the company purchase for employees who wanted them, a young lady in the front row raised her hand and interceded.”

“After announcing to the class that she was at that very moment wearing an IUD—one of the birth control methods in question—she proceeded to explain precisely how it functioned. While she was speaking, I began to consider what I should say in response to her personal disclosure.”

“I concluded that I should say nothing except, ‘Thank you,’ and then go on to ask if any other students wanted to contribute to the discussion.”