If it’s anyone other than a woman with leftist leanings we’ll all be shocked.

William Murchison of See Thru Edu has the story.

Open chair position at Rutgers: Independent thinkers need not apply

Can’t wait to find out what intellectual breakthroughs the new “Gloria Steinem Chair” at Rutgers University will produce. Or can’t we figure it out?

“What we need to know,” Ms. Steinem told the New York Times, “is that the position of the female half of the human race is not separate, it’s foundational to all the issues and all our concerns, whether it’s the environment or the economy. I can imagine a lot of more helpful, realistic coverage coming out of this.”

Coverage of an open and inquisitive sort? Open to the possibility of flaws in the feminist vision or execution? We might call that one a non-starter. The Steinem Chair – whose writ will run to various Rutgers departments, including media, culture, and feminist studies – has the smell of a thoroughly tendentious enterprise. Inquiry of an open, independent bent is unlikely to find a warm welcome from the holder of the chair who—let’s guess—will be female.

Well, you know, free speech and all that. But wasn’t Rutgers, the last time we heard, a university, and hence by definition a forum for inquiry not tied to the agenda of particular people and particular outlooks? Could it be said that Gloria Steinem favors one outlook over the outlooks of folks she has pilloried insistently in speeches and writings? It could be said–ludicrously.

A related point comes to mind. The Steinem Chair is funded by the Ford, Knight, and Revson foundations, not to mention Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook, author of Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead. Is it likely Ms. Sandberg and such like are yearning to see Ms. Steinem’s feminist theses tested in debates that could promise revision depending on what ideas and notions emerge? Does anyone expect the Steinem Chair to allow happy words about patriarchy?