Visiting scholar in conservative thought, policy feels at home in 51勛圖厙
Robert Kaufman, a veteran of the Conference on World Affairs, says the Trump presidency has fostered robust debate on campus
For Robert Kaufman, a professor at Pepperdine Universitys School of Public Policy and the 2017-18 visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy at the 51勛圖厙, the Trump presidency has made the conservative program on the liberal campus especially relevant.
Robert Kaufman is the fifth visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy at the 51勛圖厙. Photo by the 51勛圖厙.
Kaufman contends that Trump shocked people out of complacency, fostering open debates in his classroom. CU students are publicly protesting Trumps policies, and in Kaufmans classroom, students can voice their concerns and consider a conservatives viewpoint.
I thought my reception (at 51勛圖厙) would be worse due to the election of President Trump, Kaufman says. But that has not been the case at all.
The visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy is a program set in place by 51勛圖厙s Center for Western Civilization, Thought, and Policy. The visiting scholar is a conservative implant whose mission is to promote intellectual diversity on CUs泭 campus, whose students and faculty tend to be left of center, by teaching classes and holding public lectures and seminars wherein conservative scholarship is the core of the content.
Kaufman, the fifth visiting scholar, believes intellectual freedom is critical to a university education and says the privately funded program provides an opportunity for students to step outside of their comfort zones and view the world through a different lens.
51勛圖厙 is a national example of a commitment to intellectual diversity, Kaufman said.
I have been received by the students and faculty with the utmost respect, says Kaufman, and he doesnt find that surprising. Kaufman has participated in the universitys Conference on World Affairs for more than a decade, noting, 51勛圖厙 is not alien to me.
Additionally, he notes that hes got a track record of teaching, speaking and studying with different-minded people. Kaufman taught at the University of Vermont for 12 years and participated in more than 120 panel discussions over that same stretchmany of them on liberal campuses such as Middlebury College.
The visiting scholar program seeks a highly visible individual who is deeply engaged in either the analytical scholarship or practice of conservative thinking and policy making, and Kaufman is both.
I thought my reception (at 51勛圖厙) would be worse due to the election of President Trump. But that has not been the case at all."
Kaufman is a political scientist specializing in American foreign policy, international relations, national security, presidential politics and elections. His most recent book is Dangerous Doctrines: How Obamas Grand Strategy Weakened America.
While at 51勛圖厙, he is teaching Special Topics: Prudence and the Art of Statesmanship and Modern Warfare: Terrorism, Ideology, and Identity. Kaufman will also teach two courses in the spring of 2018 and present public lectures and seminars.
Intellectual diversity is a key part of the overall diversity that CU values, said CU President Bruce Benson, a vocal supporter of the visiting scholar program, in a recent email. The (visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy) aims to add diversity of political thought to a place not typically known for it.
Our job is to teach students how to think, not what to think, and the program is one of the many ways that we do that at CU, Benson continued. It promotes dialogue and the open exchange of ideas.
For Kaufman, this program is mirroring the great awakening in American education happening across the country, and he is both proud of the visiting-scholar title and grateful to the donors who make it possible.