Benson's the one

On a party line vote, University of Colorado regents have picked Bruce Benson to lead the university into (well, a few years toward) the 22nd century. The News:

Newly appointed University of Colorado President Bruce Benson vowed Wednesday to build the kind of support among students and faculty members he enjoys among some of the state's education leaders.

"I will be out building bridges, creating bonds," Benson said shortly after the regents named him the 22nd CU president on a 6-3, party-line vote, with Democrats opposed.

It was the first time since 1974 that a CU president was appointed on a split vote.

Benson said he'll schedule meetings with groups who opposed him, including the regents who voted against his appointment.

"When your votes are over, you just forget everything in the past. You embrace everybody. You treat everybody exactly the same, work together for the common good of our institution," he said.

Benson briefly hugged Regent Cindy Carlisle, a Boulder Democrat.

Shud. Der.

Still, it's amazing that the Try-Works' opposition (Pigasus II!) failed to derail Benson's bid.

More: Everybody is spewing apologies for CU student Max Karson's lame "Asians hate us" column in the Campus Press the other day, with several pointing out that the column wasn't "properly labeled" as satire. Again, if you need to label it, it ain't.

More more: CU red "scare" figure dies. The News (what would we do without the noble institution of the newspaper?) again:

The last surviving University of Colorado faculty member investigated and fired during the "Red Scare" has died at age 91.

Judd was dismissed from the university in the 1950s after refusing to answer questions about his political beliefs in the CU inquest that produced a secret 126-page report. CU's Board of Regents voted 50 years after Judd's firing to make public that document, which had been locked away in a bank vault.

It confirmed what many people had suspected was the real reason for Judd's dismissal: His name had been added to a list of suspected subversives because he wouldn't give a straight answer to former CU President Robert Stearns' questions, "Are you a member of the Communist Party," and "Have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?"

Stearns originally said Judd was let go because he was a boring teacher -- even though his department had judged him the most valuable of its instructors, upped his pay and recommended his promotion.

Sounds like Ward Churchill. But isn't refusing to "give a straight answer" (i.e., lying) grounds in itself for dismissal? Doesn't matter:

When the secret report was released in 2002, Judd was awarded a medal for his service to academic freedom.

The one question left unanswered is put by a commenter: "Well Mr. Judd were you a communist?"