Benson Center is an archaic sinkhole
Moments before a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, the crowd at the so-called “Save America Rally” was pumped with lies, unfounded conspiracy theories and exhortations to violence provided by former President Donald Trump, his lawyer Rudy Guiliani — and University of Colorado Boulder Professor John Eastman.
Eastman is officially the “visiting scholar in conservative thought and policy” at the Bruce D. Benson Center for The Study of Western Civilization.
I’ve long wondered why a school like the University of Colorado Boulder would host something called the Center for the Study of Western Civilization. Does Western Civilization not have enough students, defenders, or scholars? The violence at the U.S. Capitol this month incited in part by John Eastman reminds me of the words of Mahatma Gandhi on Western Civilization: “I think it would be a good idea.”
Visiting the Benson Center’s website provides some clues. The Center defensively and self-consciously explains that “one can celebrate the achievements of Western civilization without denigrating the world’s other cultures. Indeed, it is a mark of ignorance, not enlightenment, to make claims of superiority for the culture of ‘the West.’ ” But how is that not the purpose of an institution dedicated to creating a haven for bigoted, racist rightwing ideologues who make six-figure salaries to teach classes no one attends and gives fringe racist organizations like Turning Point USA a warm welcome when they visit Boulder under the guise of “free speech” and “open debate?” When will we stop giving credence and credibility to eugenicists in the name of their “scholarly research”?
Disgraced “visiting scholar” John Eastman is the end result of this academic misadventure. At the rally before the deadly attack on the Capitol, Eastman stood with Guiliani and fed baseless conspiracy theories to the throng of Trump supporters in the ellipse, including the new and exciting lie that there were “secret folders” of votes to rig the election for President Joe Biden. After the violence, Eastman claimed without evidence that those who stormed the Capitol were not Trump supporters at all, but “Antifa” — a lie disproven by the hundreds of arrests of right-wing Trump-supporting militia members from Colorado and across the nation.
As it turns out, inciting seditious violence is bad for one’s career. Eastman quickly “retired” from his home institution, Chapman University in Orange, California, after the Capitol riot, claiming that his work environment had become hostile after over 160 Chapman faculty
called for his ouster.
Here in Colorado, demands for Eastman’s firing from CU were swift and loud from the University of Colorado student body, the student governments of both the graduate and undergraduate schools, and BIPOC organizations on campus. CU stopped short of firing Eastman, whose $185,000 contract expires in May, but stripped him of his teaching assignments (citing “low enrollment”), outreach responsibilities, and speaking duties. It seems as if the University of Colorado would rather pay the remainder of Eastman’s outlandish salary than face him in court. That’s probably the most expedient choice from the University’s perspective, lest Eastman wrests an additional few million from CU in lawsuits on his way out the door.
And it wasn’t Eastman’s first offense. Last fall, Eastman published a racist and unfounded column in Newsweek arguing that Vice President Kamala Harris was not eligible to serve because her parents were not US Citizens when she was born — even though she was born on American soil. Any D-student in constitutional law can tell you that’s simply not true. Newsweek’s top editors have put a note on the top of the op-ed: “This op-ed is being used by some as a tool to perpetuate racism and xenophobia. We apologize.” That Eastman served as the dean of law at Chapman University is astounding and embarrassing to that institution.
With Eastman in CU’s dog house, what should become of the institution that brought him to Colorado? Should the Benson Center even exist? Aren’t the alumni of CU Boulder embarrassed that their alma mater now has a permanent association with a kook like Eastman? Isn’t this what Colorado Christian University is for? If CU values the humanity and dignity of their most marginalized students, they should reconsider this shrine to Western Civilization and the trauma that evokes for many students.
The Benson Center has long outlived its usefulness if it ever had any to begin with. CU Regent and lone-statewide-elected-Republican Heidi Ganahl told my favorite local conservative radio host Ross Kaminsky last year, “there are fantastic folks who come in, right now, it’s Dr. John Eastman, who’s riling some folks up.” Ganahl is listed among the donors to the Benson Center along with a double-helping of Anschutz money.
In fairness to Regent Ganahl, that was before Eastman helped incite violence at the U.S. Capitol. But it was after Eastman published his factually bankrupt and racist attack on Vice President Harris, which should have been enough to send Eastman packing.
In 2014, the first-ever visiting scholar in conservative thought, Steven Hayward, wrote a blog post called “Off on a gender bender” in which he mused that his orientation at the university included a section on gender identity and it was uncomfortable and confusing: “LGBTQRSTUW (or whatever letters have been added lately.” Then he wrote that he doubted any student had ever told a professor about their preferred gender pronouns.
Instead of funding an archaic academic sinkhole that has brought nothing but an embarrassment to the University of Colorado since its creation, these generous donors should instead consider writing a check to fight our nation’s real existential threats at the moment — climate change and white supremacy — or it will spell the end of western civilization anyway.