Maybe the president of Fordham University could send an email to the UW-Whitewater student body telling them how proud he is that they haven’t invited Ann Coulter.

Ethan Hollenberger of the YAF blog reports.

UW-Whitewater Lecture Series Spends $52,000 on Liberal Speakers, Zero on Conservatives

“As undergraduates in the College of Letters and Sciences, students develop diverse perspectives, civic responsibility and engagement, and personal and professional integrity while preparing for careers and life-long learning.” — UW – Whitewater College of Letters & Sciences Mission Statement

College mission statements pay lip service to the development of “diverse perspectives.” Increasingly, such declarations are becoming nothing more than feel-good jargon. The University of Wisconsin – Whitewater’s College of Letters & Sciences Contemporary Issues Lecture Series is run by associate professor of political science Susan Johnson and Dean Mary Pinkerton.

For the current academic year, the speakers are all far Left. The lecture series, now in its eighth year, has a budget of $55,000 with $34,221 coming from the Letters & Sciences’ budget (tuition dollars and taxpayer subsidy). The honoraria for the speakers are as follows:

• Josh Fox – $10,000 – Fox is an environmentalist documentary filmmaker and spoke on the “dangers” of fracking using controversial research.
• Joan Garry – $8,000 – Garry is a top LGBT activist, served on Obama 2008 campaign, and donated $9,000 to Democrats since 2007. She spoke on the “Media and its Impact on Changing Hearts and Minds”.
• Brooke Hauser – $12,000 – Hauser has supported giving undocumented immigrants in-state tuition rates. In an interview, she called for the California Dream Act to become national law. She once said “no human is illegal”.
• Andrew Leonard – $8,000 – Leonard is a Salon.com blogger. He has written columns attacking conservative leaders and corporate America.
• Doug McAdam – $7,000 – As a Stanford Sociology Professor, McAdam wrote a column opposing the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. He also called Tea Party backed congressmen with “narrow ideological commitment” a threat to democracy in America.
• Elizabeth Royte – $7,000 – Royte is a hardened environmentalist and climate change advocate. She frequently blogs on man-made climate change, bottle hysteria, and fracking dangers.

Despite each speaker’s clear liberal ideology the university denies any bias. According to the university’s spokesman, Sara J. Kuhl, “We select the speakers based upon their topic, current interest in the topic, relevance to our Gen Ed program (particularly the Core courses), national recognition, and ability to engage an audience productively.  We do not take ideological positions into account.”