My Letter on Discrimination in Higher Education

The following is a letter I sent to the governing board of the University of Colorado—at their request.

June 4, 2013



Dear Mr. Geddes and the University of Colorado Board of Regents:

I have been informed of your concern about the lack of intellectual diversity at CU and am responding with insights gained from my own experiences.

For twenty-three and a half years I was a Professor of History, Instructor Level, at CU, Boulder. I began my Ph.D. studies at the same institution in 1982. My experience on the whole was positive. From the start I was a known conservative Christian and political conservative. I began my graduate studies at CU at the age of thirty-five after a number of years in parish ministry at Protestant Evangelical churches. From the beginning I encountered hostility toward my conservative views, but my teaching record and the defense of liberal colleagues kept me employed. I had a number of colleagues who were genuinely “liberal” who supported my presence at the university. They often defended me at cost to their own careers.

In 2005 a termination process was begun that ended with my being fired in spring, 2007. That the motive was my conservative political and religious views is beyond doubt. The local chapter of the AAUP did exhaustive research and came to that conclusion. I was terminated even though I was “arguably the most honored teacher in the history of the university.” AAUP Executive Summary on the Dismissal of Phil Mitchell, p. 4. (I have a copy of the entire report.)

The hostility toward political and religious conservatives in higher education should no longer be a matter of debate but accepted as fact. Considerable research has been done. What interests me is the lack of concern over this bias in the educational community. 

If a college administrator examined his social sciences and humanities departments, and found that out of three hundred tenured and instructor-level professors only two were women he would conclude that sexism was at work. Or if there were only three African-American or Hispanic professors he would deduce a pattern of racial discrimination. But when department after department at university after university reveals a tiny percentage of conservative, let alone Christian conservative scholars, it is concluded that they lack intelligence, or are more motivated by money and thus choose higher-paying jobs, or are uncomfortable with the scientific method. I have read and heard all three explanations countless times.

Imagine if you will a department without a single African-American professor arguing that blacks aren’t intelligent enough to be college professors. Or a department with few women saying that the latter simply do not do science well. The outrage would be heard world-wide. But the same things can and are said of people like myself—who represent approximately 30% of America--and administrators and faculty simply shrug.

The consequences are immense. A gigantic sector of American culture is left unrepresented in most universities. I agree with my liberal colleagues that having black professors is a great encouragement to black students. Role models matter. Yet Evangelical Protestant Christian students—a much larger demographic than the black or Hispanic subsets—are left with professors who are either totally ignorant of their culture or overtly hostile.

Consider the intellectual life of the university. For me—when I wasn’t being fired or attacked—the university was wonderful. A life of lively interaction with intelligent people who did not agree with me. On the other hand I found that when everyone agrees on the great issues of our times then we end up squabbling about nothing more than the budget. Our students end up being indoctrinated and not educated.

I must say that I despair that anything can be done. The tenure system means that the current faculty culture will not change. (And make no mistake about it, tenured faculty are the chief power brokers at universities. They are in the position of determining new hires, and they can discriminate without penalty.)

In the social sciences and humanities the lack of intellectual diversity is the preeminent problem. It seems that a system that is so hostile to its own mission of providing a marketplace of ideas would eventually collapse. However, I want to encourage you in your attempt to make CU a better university.

Respectfully,

Phil Mitchell