Davidson College Attacks Renowned Professor Burt Folsom As Not ‘Academic’ Enough

In a baseless attempt to prevent a conservative voice from being heard on its campus, a committee of staff at Davidson College has forced a lecture by Dr. Burt Folsom out of a central event venue. The lecture, scheduled for April 23 and hosted by the Davidson Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chapter, is being targeted for what administrators have ridiculously determined to be a lack of academic rigor, and therefore moved to an unsupported venue at the edge of campus. The venue request by Davidson YAF was “denied” because their desired venue “is reserved for more academic related events that are campus wide and attract a broad audience,” according to an email from the school. The facts, however, do not support this claim by the so-called “approval committee” at Davidson. The YAF chapter’s lecture with Dr. Folsom is open to the entire campus community, and is likely to be one of the most academic events of the spring semester. It’s no secret that leftists often play fast and loose with the facts, but this is a new low, even for them. It’s worth noting that the venue initially requested for Dr. Folsom’s speech has been used by the university to push leftist ideas in forums including one that gave a platform to the ideas that the United States currently has “the highest degrees of inequality since the 1920[s]”; that “equality is about distribution”; and “incarceration is racialized and genderized.” Yet Dr. Folsom’s facts-not-feelings lessons on history are somehow not sufficiently academic? Ridiculous. Dr. Folsom is a respected historian with a resume and bibliography longer than most of Davidson’s professors. With a Ph. D. in American history from the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Folsom’s impressive record in academia is well-documented. He has taught at Murray State University, University of Nebraska, Northwood University, University of Pittsburgh, and Hillsdale College, where Folsom is currently a Distinguished Fellow and Professor Emeritus. Dr. Folsom has also contributed significantly to the scholarly record, with 10 books written on various historical topics, and publication from the Johns Hopkins University Press, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster. What’s more, Folsom’s book New Deal or Raw Deal?: How FDR’s Economic Legacy Has Damaged America was the No.1 selling history book in the United States. Leftists at Davidson should at least google the conservative they’re attacking to come up with a less-laughable cover story for their attempts to silence conservative ideas. “Young America’s Foundation calls on Davidson to allow Dr. Folsom to speak as planned in the lecture venue requested by Davidson Young Americans for Freedom,” remarked Young America’s Foundation spokesman Spencer Brown. “Students, alumni, trustees, and administrators should be concerned that the powers that be have decided scholarship is subject to a rigged ideological test where liberals win and conservatives are shoved to the edge of campus.”

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For further information or to request an interview contact Spencer Brown via [email protected].