Portland State University will not be offering a “Conservative Political Thought” graduate course this fall, despite one professor’s desire to teach it.
Professor Bruce Gilley proposed to teach the course, but it was rejected by PSU’s graduate council on the grounds that the material was not inclusive enough.
Gilley argued the material would “represent a broad diversity of voices” and be “culturally responsive.” But the council said the application answers “did not support the University commitment to access and inclusion,” according to an email from the curriculum coordinator.
Gilley has taught the same “Conservative Political Thought” course twice before but under a different course number which is associated with “Selected Topics,” meaning the subject rotates each semester. Gilley’s proposal would have made the course more permanent.
“It is a crucial missing part of the political theory offerings of the department,” Gilley wrote in his application. “The enrollment has justified a permanent course number.”
Current course offerings in the department, “as well as related normative courses in other departments, tend to downplay, indeed generally ignore, conservative normative arguments, except as objects of ridicule,” Gilley wrote in a section on potential “overlap.”
This is not the first time the school has disrespected Gilley. Portland State University investigated Gilley for writing a defense of colonialism.
Alexander James is a contributor to Red Alert Politics and a freelance journalist.
