(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Leaders at the University of Virginia have floated the idea of tracking the political donations of the university’s professors, the Daily Progress reported.
The Board of Visitors, wherein the idea was initially proposed, did not say to what end they would track the donations of the various employees, though one member of the board, Douglas Wetmore, noted that it could influence future hiring decisions.
“We should look and see does this looks diverse to us,” said Wetmore, a right-leaning board member at the board’s June 2 meeting.
“Maybe we got good diversity, and we just don’t realize it. Maybe we don’t and maybe it is uneven, and we need to make some adjustments.”
Other conservatives on the board, some of whom were, like Wetmore, appointed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, suggested that they could use such data to ensure that the university is not functioning as a leftist indoctrination camp.
According to Wetmore’s fellow conservative on the board, Bert Ellis, the professorship does not at all reflect the political views of normal Americans.
“It’s a small nucleus of conservative professors here at the university,” Ellis said during the board’s June meeting.
“If someone wanted to take the time they could research [political donations] by ZIP code, occupation and precinct, they could.”
Jim Bacon, the executive director of the influential conservative UVa alumni group the Jefferson Council, backed the two board members, noting that they are fighting against the very real threat that is the leftist takeover of America’s universities.
“We feel like indoctrination is getting worse because the older generation of baby boomer faculty, who were tolerant people and weren’t out to force students to think one way, are retiring and being replaced,” Bacon noted.
“The new generation is far more to the left politically, and you have departments that are already leaning left try to hire more people that think like them, rather than creating diversity.”
