Web site aims to bolster campus conservatives

BY STEVE KUCHERA

NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Christina Wilson has found the University of Minnesota Duluth to be a sometimes-hostile place.

Students have hassled Wilson, a junior majoring in political science and history, and other members of the College Republicans. And a professor belittled Wilson in front of her classmates during a discussion on politics.

"It's hard to be a conservative on this campus," said Wilson, chairwoman of the UMD College Republicans.

A new Web site, however, provides some ammunition to fight back. Intellectualtakeout.com provides conservative information and views on a range of issues and topics.

"I think the Web site will help conservatives to better argue their views," Wilson said.

The Center of the American Experiment launched the site Sept. 13 to help foster conservative and free-market ideas on college campuses.

The Minneapolis-based nonpartisan, nonprofit group was founded in 1990 by Mitch Pearlstein, who served in the U.S. Department of Education during the Reagan and Bush administrations.

"A really important way to reach our audience is a Web site," Britt Haugland, the center's director of public programs, said Thursday at UMD.

The site includes information on economics, education, the environment, history, politics, jobs, internships and what is happening at colleges statewide. It also links to conservative campus organizations and newspapers.

"Our goal is to be a resource to conservatives," Haugland said. "We're concerned about the lack of intellectual diversity on campuses."

College professors overwhelmingly present a liberal viewpoint, Haugland said. According to intellectualtakeout.com, a 2005 study estimated that 72 percent of college faculty identify themselves as liberal.

"I think all academics, just like other citizens, have their political beliefs and opinions," said UMD Department of Political Science head Paul Sharp. "As professional academics, they do their very best, just like journalists and judges, to be fair and balanced.

"I think the terribly important thing is not how successful they are in doing that in the judgment of somebody else who may have very strong views, but that they are trying to be fair," he said.

UMD political science professor Thomas Powers, a self-described conservative who has written for the conservative Weekly Standard, said he probably agrees politically with the Center of the American Experiment on a lot of issues.

But he is a little suspicious of what the center is doing "in the sense of openly politicizing academia," he said.

"As someone who is openly conservative, I have gotten nothing but support here at UMD," he said. "I have never run into anything but respectful disagreement."