Howard Zinn is the favorite historian of leftists everywhere, so it’s hardly a surprise that so many professors like him. Mitch Daniels is not a fan of Zinn and some members of the faculty have a problem with that.

The College Fix reports.

Dozens of Purdue Faculty Chide Mitch Daniels, But He stands His Ground

Dozens of faculty members at Purdue University have chided campus President Mitch Daniels, former governor of Indiana, for what they contend is his lack of support for academic freedom.

In an open letter signed by more than 90 faculty members and published July 22 in the campus newspaper, The Exponent, they stated his strong disdain for controversial historian and textbook author Howard Zinn and his support for Zinn’s work to be removed from K-12 schools underlies a larger problem.

“First, your assessment of Zinn’s work goes against the judgment of Purdue’s own faculty members, many of whom do include his work in their syllabi or in their published research—not to mention historians across the nation and the world,” the educators stated. “Whatever their political stripe, most experts in the field of U.S. history do not take issue with Howard Zinn’s facts, even when they do take issue with his conclusions.”

“In the end, this issue transcends one author and one book,” the faculty added. “It concerns the very legitimacy of academic discourse. Scholarship emerges virtually every day that challenges the ‘conventional wisdom’ of prior generations. Do we assess such scholarship critically, or do we censor uncomfortable ideas out of hand? The very viability of academic inquiry and the university’s mission is at stake.”

In response to the reprimand, Daniels had a few words of his own, reports the Journal and Courier:

“I appreciate the civil tone of your letter and the sincerity I know underlies it,” said Daniels in the letter after addressing each of their points. “I accepted Purdue’s invitation, not to quarrel with anyone, but to support the work of all its scholars and the freedom necessary for them to pursue that work. As time and other duties permit, I will be glad to listen further and respond as needed.”